


Another Minyard

by arguedontfight



Category: All For The Game - Nora Sakavic
Genre: Canon-Typical Violence, Family Drama, Gen, I'm horrible at tagging, Multi, Panic Attacks, Post-The King's Men, i'm not even sorry, imagine a mixture of Andrew and Aaron in not so fucked up, polyamory maybe? it's a surprise, renison is canon, that's Alice, the Twinyards have a soft side, they're probably all ooc
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2017-05-19
Updated: 2018-04-24
Packaged: 2018-11-02 12:50:03
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 18
Words: 55,933
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/10944855
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/arguedontfight/pseuds/arguedontfight
Summary: "Over his shoulder Alice got a glance at her brothers. They both stared at her, Aaron with obvious confusion, Andrew with a blank stare. It wasn’t what she had hoped for. It was so much more. She had finally arrived."Alice Minyard had always been a troubled kid. She grew up in foster care, not knowing who she was and who she was supposed to be. Everything she had was herself. Things change once she finds out that she has two brothers. Suddenly she has a family, suddenly she has a purpose. Alice decides to go and find these brothers, not really expecting anything but to finally have a family.





	1. Do You Want It All?

**Author's Note:**

> OKAY so this isn't the first fanfiction I've ever written, but it's my first ever aftg fanfiction, wow. English is not my native language, but I consider myself to be quite okay at it, at least good enough to write something in it. I hope you all fall in love with the idea of a third Minyard as much as I did.

Her heart was beating ridiculously fast as Wymack looked at her, his hand on the doorknob. Behind this door were the Foxes. Behind this door was her cousin. Behind this door were her brothers. It felt like a dream, a surreal and incredibly weird dream. This couldn’t be true. She was an abandoned child, she had no family. Yet behind this door were the people who should’ve been with her for her whole life.

She felt like it was yesterday that she had found out she had two older brothers after stealing the papers her social worker kept about her. She had also found out the name of her mother - Tilda Minyard. And then, one day, after she had been playing Exy for almost a year, she saw them on the TV. Andrew and Aaron Minyard. So she had done some research on these two boys who looked unbelievably similar to her. It was a good thing that she has always been very good at hacking. And now she was finally here.

“Are you ready?”

She had totally forgotten that Wymack was standing right next to her. Somehow she managed a quick nod. She wasn’t ready at all. Her heart was about to explode. Wymack had warned her about Aaron and Andrew. The reunion of the Minyard-siblings would probably not turn out like she imagined. But after eighteen years of way too many Foster families she was used to things turning out differently towards how she had imagined them. Wymack hadn’t told the twins yet that their sister was coming. According to him, he hadn’t even told Dan or Kevin who she was. He has only told the Foxes that they were getting a new freshman. 

Wymack opened the door. She was late to arrive. All the other freshmen had already been with the Foxes for weeks now. She was late but she was here and there was no turning back. All the eyes where on her as she entered the room. Almost all the eyes. She found them immediately. They weren’t sitting next to each other, which didn’t surprise her. Aaron sat next to a tall boy with ruffled dark hair - Nicky Hemmick. Her cousin. Aaron looked at her with a bored expression. Andrew was sitting on Nicky’s other side, next to him a red-haired boy, who she recognized as Neil Josten. Andrew wasn’t looking at her, he was looking at Neil.

She flinched as Wymack cleared his throat. “Guys, this is our newest addition. She’s a striker,” he declared.

“We don’t need another striker,” a boy protested. She didn’t recognise him so he probably was a freshman as well.

“Our lineup can always use more players, Jack,” Dan Wilds, team captain, responded. She shot her a quick glance, smiling but it was obvious that she didn’t know what to think of her.

“What’s her name?” a blonde girl asked Wymack. She recognised her as Allison Reynolds.  
Wymack started to talk, but she interrupted him. “I can speak for myself. My name is Alice Minyard.”  
The room went quiet within a second. Alice felt the blood rising in her cheeks, making her pale skin look red. She didn’t dare to look at Aaron and Andrew. She was afraid to witness their reactions. For so long she had been waiting for this moment and now it was finally here. The Foxes looked at her with their mouths hanging open and their expressions blank. Even Kevin and Neil were shocked. After seconds or minutes or hours of silence someone finally reacted. It was Nicky. He got up from the couch and walked slowly towards Alice. He rose his arms carefully, probably knowing from experience that a Minyard didn’t like to be touched without giving permission. At first Alice was confused but then she realized that Nicky wanted to hug her. She slowly rose her arms and he immediately threw his arms around her and squeezed her.

“Welcome to the family,” he said.

Over his shoulder Alice got a glance at her brothers. They both stared at her, Aaron with obvious confusion, Andrew with a blank stare. It wasn’t what she had hoped for. It was so much more. She had finally arrived.


	2. Flickers

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The first talk with the twins and Nicky.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Second part of my Alice Minyard fic, whoop whoop! Also a hint: every chapter title is taken from a songtitle. I hope you like todays chapter as much as I do!

As soon as Nicky let her go, she felt vulnerable and exposed. His tall and warm body had protected her from the others but now they could see her again. Alice felt every single pair of eyes on her, as the Foxes started throwing questions at Wymack.

”What the fuck?”

”Is she really their sister?“

”Not another Minyard!”

”Where does she even come from? Does she qualify as a recruit for the Foxes? She doesn’t look like she has been through anything in her life. Can she even hold a racquet?” It was that boy again, Jack.

Before Alice could open her mouth, a girl with short, pastel-colored hair said calmly: ”Jack, give her a chance to prove herself, before you judge her.”

”Thanks, Renee,” Wymack grumbled. Alice could tell he wasn’t happy with Jack’s behavior. Jack muttered something, which she didn’t understand. Judging by the giggle of the girl sitting next to him and the look he shot Alice, it wasn’t something necessarily nice.

Seconds of silence followed and Alice could see that the Foxes still weren’t sure of what to think of her. She was barely five feet tall and looked frail with her thin limbs, her bright blonde hair and her pale skin. But then again, there was that last name. Minyard. It was obvious that this name provoked mixed feelings. They all knew Andrew and Aaron better than Alice did. She only knew of their reputation, of what the press said about them, she knew what Wymack had told her about them on their ride to the stadium and their one phone call, which seemed like decades ago.

Finally Dan got up. She was smiling as she offered Alice her hand. Of course she was obligated to welcome the newest Fox, as she was the captain, but Alice would probably never forget, that she was the second Fox, right after Nicky, who had offered her some kind of comfort.

”Dan Wilds,” she said. ”Welcome to the Foxes.”

Alice shook her hand. She didn’t know what to respond so she just kept quiet. The other Foxes started getting up, shaking Alice’ hand and telling her their names. She knew the names of the older Foxes by heart, as she had watched almost every game and interview and report after she had found out, who her brothers were. Jack didn’t shake her hand, neither did the girl, who was sitting next to him. The last people to get up where Neil Josten and Kevin Day. They had studied her with calm expressions, trying to figure out what to think of her.

Kevin offered her his hand saying nothing. His critical stare and firm handshake spoke for itself. He probably expected her to know who he was.

Neil shook her hand while still inspecting her. ”Neil Josten,” he said quietly, almost threatening. Everything about him seemed threatening, from his posture to his striking blue eyes, from the pressure of his hand to the scars on his face. He was barely taller than Alice, but still extremely intimidating. ”Vice-captain,” Neil added.

Alice managed a quick nod, still incapable of saying anything. Her brothers stayed where they had been sitting before, staring at her.

Wymack waited a few seconds before realizing that Andrew and Aaron weren’t going to make the first move by themselves. ”Out,” he hissed. ”All of you whose names are not Minyard or Hemmick.”  
The Foxes didn’t seem to happy about it, but they obeyed. Whilst they were leaving, Alice heard some of them talking.

”10 bugs say that Andrew will adopt her,” Matt mumbled.

”20 bugs say he won’t,” Allison shot back.

Alice didn’t feel better after hearing this. Suddenly she was a nervous wreck again. Her knees started to shake. Why the hell did she think that this was going to be a good idea? Why would her brothers just accept her in their lives, after her dropping in it so unexpectedly?

Wymack glanced at her before he left to make sure she was okay. In fact, she was not, but she was happy to pretend she was. In the matter of not even a few seconds she would be all alone with her brothers and her cousin. For the first time ever. It wasn’t something that would make somebody feel okay.

She felt a hand drop carefully on her shoulder. Nicky smiled at her cheerfully, but it was obvious that even he was still unsure what to do with her. Alice could understand him very well. It had to be confusing to suddenly have one family member more. Just as confusing as it was, to suddenly have a family.

Aaron was the first to speak. ”How?” Nothing more and nothing less. This was the first word one of her brothers had ever said to her. It felt like the whole world, it felt like nothing at all. It felt like a beginning.

”I am eighteen years old. I just graduated from high school. I found out what my mother’s name was when I was fourteen. I also found out that I have two older brothers,” Alice started explaining. She had never before felt so insecure. Her voice was shaking. She wanted to slap herself for seeming so weak. ”About one year after I started playing Exy in my high school, I saw a game of the Foxes. Your names appeared. Minyard isn’t a very common last name and you are two boys. Of course it crossed my mind that you two could be my two bigger brothers. So I did some research. I found out about parts of your past, that you, Andrew, grew up in foster care, just like I did, and that you, Aaron, grew up with your mother. But I also found out the name of your mother, which is also the name of my mother.” This was the short version of Alice hacking into several computers, spending hours awake trying to find out more about these two boys and asking herself the same question over and over. What if?

Nicky cleared his throat. ”But… Tilda never had a third child. We would know, wouldn’t we?” he looked at Aaron, ”Aaron would remember his mother being pregnant, right?”

Alice started chewing her bottom lip. ”I honestly don’t know how she did it,” she admitted, ”But I know that I was given to the system on January 2nd, two days after my birth. Aaron must’ve been two when I was born. It’s possible that he doesn’t remember it.”

Aaron suddenly moved. It was so quick that Alice almost missed it. His expression had changed completely. His eyes were wide open and he looked almost sorry. ”Oh my god,” he whispered, ”This can’t be true”

Nicky seemed confused, he probably had never seen his cousin that shocked. ”What do you mean?”  
Aaron looked Alice directly in her eyes. She felt uncomfortable under his stare, but at the same time, this was the first time, he had ever really looked at her, not only observing her, but really looking at her.

”Mom had a miscarriage after she had Andrew and me. I only know about it because Luther has told me about it. It must’ve been about two years after we were born.”

”I guess I must’ve been that ’miscarriage’,” Alice commented dryly.

”Oh holy shitlord,” Nicky said. He hugged Alice again. She flinched at the unexpected physical contact, but that only made him hug her harder. When he finally let her go, Aaron had stepped closer to them. He offered Alice his hand. She wasn’t surprised that he wasn’t going to hug her, neither was she disappointed. This was more than enough. His hand was warm and soft. He didn’t smile and neither did she. But it still felt like the biggest step into the right direction she had ever made.  
Alice was so focused on Aaron that she didn’t even realized Andrew had gotten up as well. He approached slowly, his head tilted slightly.

”You going to be a problem?” Andrew asked. His voice was cold and hard.

Alice shook her head quickly. Andrew nodded, then walked past her to get to the door.

Alice shot Nicky an insecure glance. He just smiled and slung his arm around her shoulders. ”That’s his way of saying he’ll keep you,” he assured.

”You sure?” Alice asked.

”Trust me,” Aaron said, ”This could’ve went a lot worse.”

Alice wasn’t all too sure about that but then again, Wymack had warned her about Andrew.

The Foxes were waiting right outside, all longing to know what has happened behind closed doors. Andrew went straight to where Neil and Kevin where waiting and Aaron and Nicky followed him. After a heartbeat Alice followed them.

Matt grinned triumphantly. ”I won,” he declared.

Allison groaned, but doesn’t complain further.

”Great,” Wymack said, ”Now that this is over, I’d like to show Alice her room. Sheena and Issie, she’ll take the empty bunk in your room. There’ll be no arguing,” he added, as the tall girl, who had been sitting next to Jack before, opened her mouth, ”It’s decided. Go complain somewhere else, I couldn’t care less.” He ordered Alice to follow her, but. Andrew interrupted him.

”We’ll take her to Fox Tower.”

Wymack narrowed his eyes and looked at Andrew, probably discussing in his head whether or not he can trust Andrew with the Foxes’ newest striker. Alice wasn’t too sure about that herself. Just because Andrew had now seemed to have accepted her, he wasn’t less of a danger. Everybody had to be considered a potential threat, which Alice had learned the hard way. Neither Andrew, nor Aaron and not even Nicky could be trusted right away.

She felt relieved. Her brothers accepted her. She was officially a Fox. She would from now on take part in the lives of her brothers and they would take part in hers. Finally, after so many lonely years, she finally had a family.

Alice was crushed between Aaron and Nicky on the backseat of Andrew’s car. Neil rode shotgun. Kevin had agreed to drive back to Fox Tower with Wymack, as he wanted to discuss strategies and training plans for the upcoming year with him anyways. Nicky kept jabbering about the most irrelevant things. Judging by the others, who were ignoring him, this was a common thing and not only something he did to make Alice feel included and less nervous.

As soon as she spotted the Fox Tower she felt chills rushing through her veins. This was were she was supposed to be. This was her home. This should’ve always been her home. Alice wasn’t certain, what exactly set off this feeling, the sight of Fox Tower or the warm shoulders of her cousin and her brother next to her and the quick glances of her other brother through the rear mirror, which were obviously meant for her.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Next chapter coming soon! Now that Alice had a chance to meet her family, it's time to properly meet the rest of the Foxes. Could there be a better place for this than the court?


	3. This Is The Life

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Alice's first day as a Fox and her first practice.

Nicky lead Alice to her new room. Both of her roommates were chilling on the sofa as Alice entered and neither of them looked up from their phones. After making sure that Alice was fine, Nicky left the room.

”So,” Alice began, ”Where can I sleep?”

Issie looked up and smiled. ”I’ll show you your bed,” she said and got up.

Alice followed her into the bedroom of the small suite, leaving Sheena alone in the living room. In the bedroom was one bunkbed and one single bed, as well as a big drawer and a wardrobe.

”You can take the upper bed. The other one is mine, single bed belongs to Sheena,” Issie explained, ”Just throw your clothes somewhere and make sure you don’t steal any of Sheena’s. That annoys her.”

”I’ll try,” Alice answered dryly before putting her suitcase on the ground to unpack it. Issie helped her move in a little, while Sheena still ignored her. After almost all of Alice’s stuff was unpacked, Issie left the room to hang out with the other freshmen. She asked Alice whether she would like to join them or not, but Alice didn’t feel like hanging out with a lot of people right now. Today she had met too many new people, had seen too many new faces to deal with them at the moment. She needed to calm down and to get her shit together.

As soon as Issie was out of the room, Sheena got up and looked at Alice angrily. ”Just to make one thing clear, Minyard. I do not want you here. Many of us do not want you here. You have no reason to be here, other than the fact that Wymack somehow has a thing for you Minyards.”

A few years earlier, Alice would’ve been very hurt by this. But she had learnt how to deal with bitches and their unnecessary drama. Inside, she was boiling. She was angry and she wanted to take that girls’ face and rip her eyes out. She clenched her hands into fists and pressed her fingernails into her palms. Staying calm would be the more helpful option. Responding with anger and violence would only cause trouble.

”You’re a freshman as well. If I were you, I’d keep the ball flat for the time being,”, Alice answered as calm as she could, then turned around and disappeared into the bedroom.

It was late when Issie came back and both Alice and Sheena had already been in bed for a long time. Alice was still awake and listened, as Issie came back and went to sleep. Images kept rushing through her head. Images of her brothers, of Nicky, of her last foster dad, of Wymack when he picked her up from the airport, the Fox Tower. As she finally fell asleep she was thinking of her mother, of the woman, who had abandoned her and one of her brothers but in the end did not manage to keep them away from each other.

The shrill noise of an alarm clock woke Alice up in the next morning. It was a loud, unpleasant noise, which attempted to dig itself deep into her brain.

”Turn that fucking thing off, you fucking shithead!” Sheena screeched. Alice opened her eyes just in the moment to see Sheena throw a cushion at Issie.

Issie responded with a laugh, the noise died and the bunkbed wiggled as Issie got up. ”Good morning to you too, Sheena!”

Sheena just glanced at Issie before getting up and leaving the bedroom, which made Issie laugh even harder. Alice wondered how she could already be that awake and that happy so early in the morning. Issie turned around to look at Alice, her blue eyes were sparkling.

”Did you sleep well?”

A nod was all that Alice could manage, but it was enough for Issie. She followed Sheena out of the bedroom and left Alice alone.

She was thankful for a second to breathe. It wasn’t a dream. She really was at Fox Tower, her brothers and cousin just a few meters away in another dorm. They really existed. They weren’t just some fantasy. A smile sneaked onto Alice’s face as she thought about what will happen today. Today was the day of her first practice with the Foxes. Her first real day as a Fox. It would take some time for her to get used to calling herself a Fox.

Alice eventually got up and left the bedroom. The living room was smelling of coffee and Alice found Issie in the kitchen. She got distracted by Issie’s long, flawless legs for a second, before shambling into the kitchen. The shower was going to Alice assumed that Sheena was in the bathroom.  
”How do you drink your coffee?” Issie asked, without looking up.

”Black,” Alice responded and sat down on one of the bar stools next to the counter.

”Just like Kevin’s soul,” Issie joked and poured Alice a cup.

The coffee was very hot but also very good. Alice sat on the stool for a few seconds, watching Issie prepare her breakfast, still tired. She jumped as someone knocked on their door.

”Could you go and open it?” Issie asked.

Alice got up and walked to the door. She expected almost everyone from Wymack to her social worker, but was surprised to find Allison Reynolds behind that door. Despite the early hour, Allison was already perfectly styled and looked as fresh as ever. Her hair and make up looked flawless and her sports clothes somehow still managed to look glamourous.

”Morning,” she said and inspected her from head to toe.

”I’ve just woken up,” Alice stammered, a little bit overwhelmed with her visitor.

”Yeah, I can see that. You can get ready in our room. Coach ordered me to bring you to Abby before practice today. Your arrival made a few things a bit chaotic, so we gotta do it today before practice. You’ll meet Bee tomorrow or so. There’s no time for a blood test, so I hope you’re clean. Do you take drugs?”

Alice found it hard to follow Allison’s words as she was talking very fast. ”Um, no,” was Alice’ eloquent response.

Allison raised one eyebrow.

”I don’t even smoke or anything,” Alice added.

”Good. You coming?”

Alice grabbed a few of her things and then quickly followed Allison into her room, but not before sending Issie a helpless look. Issie just laughed. The other senior girls were in their room and greeted Alice happily. She tried to get ready as fast as she possibly could, before leaving Fox Tower with Allison.

”How come Wymack chose you to bring me? Wouldn’t it have made more sense for Dan to do it?” Alice asked, as she got into Allison’s pink car.

”I may or may not have talked him into letting me do it. I’m curious about you and want to ask you a few things, before others do it,” she smiled at Alice, but the smile didn’t reach her eyes, ”I have a few bets to win.”

”Okay,” Alice sighed. She had expected the Foxes to be curious, but she had hoped to get a chance to talk to her brothers about everything she went through, before telling it somebody else.  
”How did you find out about Andrew and Aaron?” Allison asked while maneuvering her car out of her parking lot.

”I found out my mother’s name and that I have two older brothers when I was fourteen. Minyard isn’t necessary the most common name, so when I saw Andrew and Aaron on TV, I got curious. I did some research on them and found out about their mother. And I mean, look at me.”

Allison shot Alice a quick glance before she shuddered. ”You look exactly like them,” she said.  
”Exactly,” Alice said. She didn’t want to tell this girl her exact story. She didn’t want to tell her that she stole her social worker’s papers and that she hacked into several computers to find out more about these two boys. These two boys gave her hope. They gave her life a purpose without even meaning to.

”And how did you end up here?” Allison asked.

”I contacted Wymack. He said he’d fix it,” Alice mumbled.

Allison smiled, this time the smile seemed to be more genuine. ”Of course he did. Why did you arrive here so late anyways? Yesterday Dan told us that you were supposed to arrive with the other freshmen.”

Alice’ whole body stiffened. This was one of the questions she feared the most, one of the questions she wasn’t ready to answer yet. ”Complications,” Alice managed to choke out.  
”Complications?” Allison echoed, ”What kind of?”

Her body tried to protest in every way possible while thinking about what had happened. Every last bit of oxygen seemed to be out of her system. It felt like she was drowning. Alice had panic attacks before. Technically she knew how to calm herself down. Images kept popping up in her head. The lack of oxygen suddenly seemed to come from a hand around her throat. Alice tried to keep it down, but of course Allison noticed.

”You okay?”

Alice closed her eyes. She breathed in, out. In, out, Staying calm was important. Breathing was important. There was so hand around her throat. The oxygen did not try to fight against her. She was in Allison’s car. Everything was fine. Alice opened her eyes.

”Yeah, I’m good,” Alice answered. She wasn’t.

At least Allison didn’t ask any more questions, but Alice knew that her reaction had only increased her curiosity.

Alice’s visit at Abby’s was short and uncomplicated. She was a bit underweight and undernourished, but Abby said that would be easy to fix, now that Alice lived with the Foxes. Beside that, Alice only had a few bruises on her legs, which mostly came from her clumsiness. She had one big scar on her back, but that one had healed long ago. Alice had to promise Abby, that she was clean and not interested in taking any hard drugs.

Abby seemed very nice and Alice liked her a lot. She was a lot softer than Wymack, but it was obvious, that she would take no shit. Before releasing her, Abby smiled at Alice. ”I’m glad that you found Aaron and Andrew. Foxes are not the kind of people who have a lot of luck in their lives, but I’m really happy that you were lucky enough to find your family.”

A smile rushed over Alice’ face. ”Thank you,” she answered quietly, before returning to Allison who had been waiting in the hallway.

”And?” Allison asked, ”Do you think they’re shagging?”

”What?”

”Wymack and Abby. There’s a lot of money on it and a lot of proofs for it,” Allison explained.

Alice had already noticed the Foxes’ weird obsession with bets. She found it very amusing. ”Don’t know. Haven’t seen them in the same room together yet. When I do, I’ll decide,” she answered.

Allison grinned, this was the answer she had wanted. ”Good,” she said, ”And now. Ready for your first practice with the best team in NCAA Class I Exy?”

Alice wasn’t sure she was, but she nodded anyways.

Practice in the gym was hard, but nothing she couldn’t bear. Nicky trained with her, but he kept talking to her without a break, until Kevin snapped at him, that he should just shut the fuck up. The silence lasted a few minutes until Nicky started chatting with Alice again. Jack and Sheena ignored her, which Alice was thankful for. Aaron had greeted her, as soon as he had seen her, but Andrew had only given her a quick nod. According to Nicky, Andrew barely talked to anyone except Neil and it was a small wonder that he even acknowledged Alice.

Afterwards, the Foxes headed onto the court. A nervous feeling slowly built itself inside of Alice. She hadn’t forgotten Allison’s words. The Foxes currently were the best team in NCAA Class I Exy, as they had won the latest championship. And with Kevin on the team, they had the best striker in the world on their team. Alice suddenly felt very small. She wasn’t necessarily the chairman of the Kevin Day Fanclub, but this boy had definitely earned himself her respect. And now she was supposed to play on the same court, on the same position as him. In her old team she had been the best striker. Now she probably was the worst. For a moment she regretted her decision to come here. She wasn’t good enough to play in Class I. But then she caught Andrew’s glance. He was walking onto court right next to Neil. He looked at her and then slowly raised one eyebrow. He had seen the doubts on her face and was now challenging her. Alice just looked back at him and then slowly raised one eyebrow as well. Andrew headed for the goal, but they kept staring at each other until he was too far away for Alice to see his facial expression. It didn’t feel like a win, but it didn’t feel like a loss either. Andrew’s glance had reminded her of why she was here and why she wanted this. Now she wanted to prove herself to her brothers more than ever before. She wanted to prove, that she was worth being a part of their family. Allegedly Andrew had accepted her yesterday already. Alice knew, that today was the real day she had to prove herself.

Surprisingly the practice went quite well. It was obvious to Alice that all the freshmen still had to integrate themselves into the Foxes, as the older Foxes were playing like they all could read each others minds. One could see quite well that they all trusted each other. Their way of playing was aggressive and fast, it was more than obvious that every Fox had been through a lot and this court was the place for all of them to finally deal with their issues.

Kevin seemed to deal with his issues by shouting insults at his teammates as soon as they did something he considered wrong. Alice was surprised he barely shouted at her, but maybe she just wasn’t interesting enough to keep his attention. One of the freshman dealers, Farid, seemed to annoy Kevin the most. He even stopped the game to stomp over the court to Farid so he could shout right in his face.

”What do you think you’re doing, you useless prick? Keep your head in the fucking game, or I’ll smash it on the plexiglass!”

”Woah Kevin. Calm down!” Dan finally shouted and jogged over to the two men. ”It’s not his fault that you’re in a bad mood!”

Kevin stared at Dan for a few seconds and Alice could see that he had to restrain himself from shouting at her. As he picked up his racquet again, Alice could see that he was shaking a bit. The game continued and Kevin seemed to put his aggression into playing.

At the end of practice Alice had managed to score against both Renee and Magnus, the freshman goalie, several times. She had not scored once against Andrew, but neither did Jack nor Hector so she didn’t take that as a necessarily negative thing.

Whilst they were all walking to the locker rooms Neil even walked up to her and gave her a friendly look. ”You did well today,” he said.

”Thanks,” Alice responded, surprised that he had even noticed her.

Andrew was walking right next to Neil and he shot Alice a quick look. ”You’re driving back to Fox Tower with me and Neil,” he said. His tone made it clear that she had no real choice, but she was more than happy about it.

”Okay,” she said and the disappeared into the girls’ locker room.

Alice only sat in the car with Andrew and Neil. Kevin, Nicky and Aaron had split themselves up onto the other cars. Alice was a bit surprised about that, but didn’t complain, not wanting to anger Andrew by asking questions. Kevin didn’t seem to be happy about the situation, but Nicky and Aaron just obeyed.

”He’ll have to take the Lexus now more often,” Neil said, after Andrew had started the engine.

Andrew just shrugged. ”He’ll survive it.”

After looking at Alice’s confused face for a second, Neil started explaining. ”Kevin owns a car, but he hates it. It used to be Riko’s car.”

”Why doesn’t he just sell it, if he hates it?” Alice asked.

”Because he can’t let go,” Neil said and shrugged, ”But now that we have you it’ll be beneficial to have two cars.”

”I don’t want to cause any trouble,” Alice started but Andrew interrupted her.

”You’re not.”

For the rest of the ride no one spoke, but the silence didn’t make Alice uncomfortable, it was more of the opposite. She actually enjoyed sitting in this car with Andrew and Neil, saying nothing, just existing.

After arriving at Fox Tower, Neil and Andrew went straight to their dorm. Alice hesitated a second before following. Nobody said anything, so she took that as a permission.

She spent the whole rest of the day in the room of Neil, Andrew and Kevin. Nicky came by later and spent time with them, but Aaron didn’t. Alice wanted to ask why but she was afraid that question would cause trouble, which was the least she wanted. When she finally went to bed in her own room she was the happiest she had ever been.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I'm not sure if I got the idea of Kevin getting Riko's old car from the Ravens as a "gift" from the extra content or Lessons In Cartography (which is a wonderful aftg fanfiction), so yeah credits to either Nora or the author of Lessons In Cartography.  
> Sheena and Jack are taken from the extra content as well as Issie, although Issie doesn't have a name in the extra content.


	4. She Moves In Her Own Way

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Andrew's lot take Alice to Columbia for the first time.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> WARNING:  
> This chapter consists of references to past abuse, sexually and emotionally. Also alcohol and violence, but I guess none of that is surprising for an aftg fanfiction.

A small routine established itself in the next few days. Alice would wake up and have breakfast with Issie whilst Sheena was ignoring them, then Andrew and Neil would pick her up. Practice always went similar, Alice had the feeling that she was slowly starting to improve and to get used to the playing style of the Foxes. After practice she’d drive back with Andrew and Neil and spend the rest of the day in their room. Nicky would usually come by, but Aaron never did. By the end of the week, Alice had barely spoken to anyone but Issie, Andrew, Nicky, Neil and Kevin. Aaron always greeted her, but after practice he just vanished. Nicky said, that he always hung out with Katelyn, his girlfriend.

On Friday, the routine was broken. During the drive back to Fox Tower, Andrew said, ”You’re coming with us to Columbia today.”

He didn’t explain it further, so Neil did it for him. ”Partying in a club,” he said, ”Nicky owns a house there and we head to Columbia almost every Friday.”

Alice nodded. After they arrived at Fox Tower, she changed quickly. Issie and Sheena were getting ready for a party as well, but somehow Alice doubted that all the Foxes were going to Columbia.

”You coming with us?” Issie asked while she was putting lipstick on.

Alice shook her head. ”I’m going with Andrew and the others,” she answered.

”The monsters,” Sheena commented dryly.

Issie and Alice exchanged a surprised look. Since the first day, Sheena hadn’t said a single word to Alice and she barely spoke to Issie. One second later, Alice realized what Sheena had said.

”The monsters?” she echoed and narrowed her eyes.

”That’s what Allison calls them. Or at least Andrew. I’m not hundred percent sure why, so far he only seems like a sociopath, but I’m sure she has reasons,” Sheena said impassively and then turned around to look at Alice, ”I’m not sure if he was worse before getting off his meds or after. I guess Aaron also deserves the title ’monster’. He literally killed someone. With a racquet. Both of the twins are monsters, if you ask me.”

Alice’s blood was boiling inside of her. Hate and rage were rising up. She could see her hand around this girls’ throat, squeezing and squeezing until her face was purple and her eyes were popping out and – she had to stop.

”Sheena,” Issie said accusingly.

Sheena smiled. ”Oh sorry. Was I crossing a line there?”

”Just stop talking before I scratch your eyes out,” Alice managed to hiss. The look on her face expressed only hate. She had literally just met her brothers, but she was willing to fight every single one of the Foxes for them.

”I’m only saying the truth. They’re mons–”

Sheena didn’t get to finish her sentence because Alice pushed her hard against the wall. A weird noise came out of Sheena’s mouth as her back hit the wall. Alice could hear Issie gasping, but she didn’t interfere. Alice rammed her elbow into Sheena’s throat and looked right into the eyes of the taller girl.

”Call my brothers monster again and you’ll regret it,” she growled, then let go of Sheena and stormed out of her dorm. She almost crashed right into Nicky and Kevin, who were about to knock on her door to get her.

”You alright?” Nicky asked.

Alice nodded. ”Sure,” she said, her face still red from the anger, ”Where are the others?”

”Already downstairs. Andrew and Neil wanted to have a smoke before we leave,” Nicky explained.

Andrew and Neil were leaning against the Maserati, sharing a cigarette and quietly talking. To Alice’ surprise, Aaron was also there, standing a few meters away next to the Lexus. After him being away all week, she thought that we would not come along with them to Columbia either, but she was happy to see him here. 

As usual, Alice rode in the Maserati along with Andrew and Neil and the other three rode in the Lexus. Kevin still seemed a bit grumpy about that, but Neil assured Alice he’d get over it one day. Andrew and Neil kept quiet during the whole drive, which Alice was used to after the week. What she wasn’t used to was Nicky constantly sending her texts about how excited he was that she was coming with them to Columbia. Alice herself was more interested in looking out of the window, rather than answering Nicky’s texts. Due to several foster families she had lived in many different places, but she had only lived in South Carolina as a baby. One of her foster families had taken her with them to Washington, where she had lived for almost her whole life. Alice’s last home had been in Seattle, but that was only one of far too many. She was curious about how South Carolina looked and even more curious about Columbia.

Another text message came in, this time from Dan. ”is everything ok?”

”Yes,” Alice typed back, wondering why Dan would ask such a thing. During the week, Alice had barely spoken to the Foxes’ captain, but she guessed, that Dan understood it as her duty to look out for every Fox. And based on how the other Foxes dealt with her brothers, they didn’t seem to be the easiest and most harmless people to be around. Alice found it bewildering, but also heartwarming that Dan cared so much.

Alice’s thoughts were still with Sheena and what she had said earlier. She knew that Andrew had been on medication and that he was taken off his meds halfway through the last season. She would only ever be able to guess what he had been like on his meds, but she really wanted to know. There was this deep urge to get to know her brothers inside of her. She wanted to know why Andrew barely spoke and how his life in the system had been. She wanted to know why Aaron barely hung out with the others and how his life with their mother had been. Of course she couldn’t find out all these things she wanted to know in just one week, but she had questions and she wanted to ask them badly. Alice hoped that today she would get a chance to ask these questions.

Andrew stopped the car in front of a restaurant, called Sweetie’s. Alice saw the Lexus stopping as well. Inside the restaurant the boys went straight for one of the tables and Alice got to sit crashed in between Aaron and Kevin. Based on how no one wasted a look on the menu card, they went here often. Nicky ordered the ice cream special for everyone. While they were waiting for their food, Nicky tried to keep up a casual conversation, but it drifted to Exy, once Kevin started getting more involved in the conversation. Soon, him and Neil discussed several teams and new strategies. Nicky tried to keep up with the topic, but it was obvious that he was not as interested in it as the other two. Aaron and Andrew kept out of the conversation, which didn’t surprise Alice at all. Andrew never participated in the conversations, Neil and Kevin had about Exy. Aaron hadn’t been there all week and Alice wouldn’t except him to engage in something so banal as a conversation about Exy.

Finally, the waitress brought the ice cream and passed out the bowls. Kevin shot the ice cream one disgusted look before crossing his arms and continuing to talk about the USC Trojans.

”God, Kevin, we get it, you have the biggest crush ever on Jeremy Knox, now let us eat in peace!” Nicky said, after listening to Kevin’s ramble for a minute or so.

Kevin looked offended. ”I don’t have a crush on him. I respect him and his team. Besides, I am only wondering how Jean gets along with them and how their playing will change now that they have him on their lineup.”

”Just ask him how he’s doing,” Aaron said. His tone did not sound nice at all, despite his words. He shot Kevin an annoyed look.

Kevin didn’t answer, but it was obvious that this was a difficult topic for him. Alice guessed that Jean could only be Jean Moreau, Kevin’s former teammate when they were both playing with the Edgar Allan Ravens. Jean had transferred to the USC Trojans at the end of the last season, but Alice had only heard rumors why he transferred. Apparently the Ravens have treated all of their players horribly. Kevin transferred to the Foxes due to injury. His left hand had been broken. At the end of the last season, he hinted in an interview that it had been the fault of the Ravens. Many people understood it as a hint that Riko Moriyama, former Ravens captain, had broken his hand. Riko and Kevin had used to be as close as brothers, at least that is how they appeared on television. They were considered the heirs of Exy. Sometimes Alice looked at the chess piece tattooed on Kevin’s cheek and wondered how the 2, which used to be there, looked like in real life. Riko committed suicide at the end of the last season and Alice was wondering how Kevin was dealing with it. His constantly bad mood taken into consideration, he was probably not dealing well with it. Jean must have escaped the abusive treatment of the Ravens as well.

”Why didn’t Jean transfer to the Foxes?” Alice asked. She knew, she should have kept quiet, but the words had left her mouth before she could stop them.

Kevin looked like he was about to puke. Instantly, she regretted the question.

”The relationship between Kevin and Jean is… complicated,” Neil started, his tone made it clear that she should stop asking questions now.

Alice looked at Andrew. He still seemed as uninterested in the conversation as just a few minutes ago, when they were talking about Exy. She knew that she could not force any of them to talk about what has happened, but there were too many rumors going on for the uninvolved people to understand what had happened. If they expected her to not cross any lines, they should tell her, where these lines were.

Nicky quickly switched the topic to avoid the awkwardness that was rising, which he was really good at. He told them stories about Erik, his boyfriend who lived in Germany. Nicky had told Alice about Erik on her second day with the Foxes. Ever since then, Nicky somehow managed to change every topic to Erik. This time, Alice was thankful for it.

They left the restaurant not long afterwards and moved on to a nightclub, called Eden’s Twilight. Nicky explained to Alice that he and the twins used to work here, which is why they know almost every employee. As soon as they entered, Alice felt the bass under her feet. The music was loud, the people were dancing and laughing and her entire group seemed to be at the wrong place. Andrew found them a table surprisingly quick, but he didn’t give Alice time to sit down. He signaled her to follow him and then went towards the bar.

”Andrew!” One of the bartenders greeted her brother with a smile. ”The usual?”

Andrew nodded. He waited a moment before saying: ”This is Alice. She’s my little sister.”

The bartender swallowed hard and looked at her in blank surprise. He seemed to study her appearance to find the similarities to Aaron and Andrew and found them in her bright blonde hair, her hazel eyes and the fierce look in her eyes. ”Nice to meet you, Alice,” he finally said and offered her his hand, still surprised, ”I’m Roland.”

Alice shook his hand.

”The drinks, Roland,” Andrew pushed, ”We don’t have all night.”

Roland rolled his eyes, but a few seconds later he handed them their drinks. Andrew did not ask, whether she even drank alcohol or not, but Alice did not complain.They returned to the table and Kevin immediately drowned one of the drinks.

”One day you’ll die of alcohol poisoning,” Nicky predicted cheerfully.

”Fuck off, Nicky,” Kevin answered.

The others followed Kevin’s example and drowned their drinks quickly. Andrew got up to get a new round. Alice noticed that after their third round, Neil let Andrew drown his drinks. She wondered why he didn’t drink more, but also didn’t want to ask. Maybe he just did not like being drunk. After the fourth round, Nicky got up and dragged Aaron with him.

”We’re going dancing,” he declared, ”Alice, you wanna come?”

Alice opened her mouth, but Andrew answered for her. ”No. But Neil and Kevin do.”

Neil and Kevin both shot Andrew surprised, but furious looks. After a short staring contest with Andrew, Neil got up and dragged Kevin with him. Soon after that, Alice was alone with Andrew. He got up to get another round, this time he brought a bunch of shots.

As soon as he sat down again, Andrew’s glance burned on Alice’s skin. She returned the look with an unimpressed expression. She was slowly getting annoyed by him always talking for her, but not with her. She leaned back and waited for him to start.

”I’ve been in 12 different foster homes,” Andrew finally said and drowns a shot afterwards.

Alice raised one eyebrow. ”10,” she answers and takes a shot as well. Apparently Andrew wanted to share stories about their times in foster care. Alice had no problem with that, she had many stories to tell.

”Three of my foster fathers raped me. One foster brother.”

Shot.

”Two foster fathers, one foster mother.”

Shot.

”When I was eight, I was beaten up for stealing a chocolate bar from my foster sister.”

Shot.

”When I had my first girlfriend and my foster father found out, he beat me and called me a worthless lesbian. After that they gave me up and I went into another foster family. I never saw my girlfriend again. I was fourteen.”

Shot.

Pictures started flooding Alice’s mind. The smile of Katie, blood on her hands after her foster father had broken her nose, the hands of her foster mother on her hips, slowly dragging down her pants while Alice tried to stay as quiet as she could, because she knew that things would only get worse, if somebody knew what was happening here.

”I spent most of my life with a foster brother who raped me, because I thought his parents loved me.”

Shot.

”I spent my last two years in foster care in almost complete solitude. My foster father didn’t want me to have contact with anybody but him. When I told him I wanted to go to college at the PSU he locked me in my room for two weeks straight until I escaped through the window.”

Shot.

More pictures flooded her mind. The smile of her last foster father while he said, that he just wanted her best, bruises everywhere on her body after trying to escape for the first time.She suddenly got up. Andrew still looked at her. The alcohol started kicking in, once she was standing.

”I’ll go dancing,” she said and left Andrew alone, not waiting for an answer.

This game they were playing was too much for her. She could not handle dealing with all the terrible stuff he had been through whilst dealing with all the terrible stuff she had been through at the same time. A distraction was needed desperately now.

Nicky, Aaron, Kevin and Neil were quick to be found. Nicky greeted Alice cheerfully and slung an arm around her shoulder, but Neil and Kevin exchanged a confused glance.

”Where’s Andrew?” Neil shouted over the music.

”Back at the table,” Alice answered, shrugged and then slung her arm around Nicky’s waist.Neil immediately left the dance floor and Kevin followed him after hesitating for a second.

Alice let herself get taken away by the lights and the music and the bodies moving around her. Nicky was killing it on the dance floor and for one second Alice was a bit offended, that he was a better dancer than she was, but she quickly got over it and danced with him. Aaron seemed to loosen up a bit and Alice even swore she saw him laugh once or twice.

She wasn’t sure when she lost Aaron and Nicky, but at some point they disappeared in the crowd of people on the dance floor. Alice was too drunk to actually care, so she just continued dancing. Everything about her conversation with Andrew was forgotten at the moment, she did not care about anything but the bass under her feet, her moving body and just being free. Her eyes were chasing the dozens of lights, which were dancing over the people’s heads. She wanted to laugh, so she did. Everything was fine, everything was perfect.

The good feeling stopped immediately as soon as she felt two hands on her hips. It couldn’t be Nicky, or any of the others, because they wouldn’t touch her like that. The hands dragged her close to the body they belonged to and Alice felt a heavy and hot breath on her shoulder.

”Hey there pretty girl,” a dark voice said coaxingly. 

”Let me go,” Alice said, her voice cold and hard, she tried to free herself from his hands, but he turned her around so he could look at her face and grabbed both of her wrists. He was a lot taller than she was, eyes blurred, probably dead drunk.

”But you’re so pretty,” he babbled and smiled drunkenly. His grip was surprisingly strong and it slowly started to hurt.

”I swear to God, let me go or I’ll hurt you,” Alice threatened.

He only laughed. His breath smelled like vodka. Alice suddenly felt like she was sober again. ”You’re way too small to hurt me. And so fragile.”

His grip got even stronger and Alice hissed. If he continued like that, he would leave bruises. She raised her knee and rammed it right in between his legs.

The guy groaned and let go of her. She wanted to flee, but he recovered surprisingly fast. Alice blamed his lack of pain on his alcohol level. He pushed her hard into the crowd.

”You stupid bitch!”

His hand was raised and Alice could already feel his palm meeting her cheek. Out of the nowhere, two small men appeared, both enraged. Aaron pinned the man’s arms on his back, while Andrew raised his hands to the throat of the man.

”Don’t you ever touch her again, you worthless piece of shit!” Andrew spat out.

Alice was in shock from everything that just happened. She couldn’t realize that her brothers had just come to her rescue. Adrenaline was rushing through her veins.

The man tried to say something, but Andrew kept choking him. He was slowly turning blue. Alice wondered why nobody tried to stop Andrew, why everybody just ignored what was happening, but maybe that was normal here in Eden’s Twilight.

”Andrew,” she finally said and the sound of her voice was enough to get Andrew to let the man go.  
”The next time, I’ll kill you,” he threatened. Alice was not doubting that he was serious. Only a second later both of her brothers were standing in front of her.

”Are you hurt?” Aaron asked.

Their eyes were flying over her body to make sure she didn’t have any wounds.

”I’m fine,” she promised them.

For some reason that made Aaron smile and Andrew roll his eyes. They both relaxed a little bit.  
”Let’s get you out of here,” Aaron said, carefully grabbing her left arm and dragging her out of the crowd.

They left Eden’s Twilight in a rush and quickly got their cars. Andrew was still tense when the drove away from the nightclub. Alice leaned back in her seat and slowly started to relax. The adrenaline was gone, her head felt dizzy again from all the alcohol and the dancing. She could still feel the hands of the stranger on her hips but it felt more like a really bad nightmare than an actual memory. What was more important was her brothers pushing him away, Andrew choking the guy while Aaron was making sure he couldn’t defend himself. Alice closed her eyes and fell fast asleep, feeling safe on the backseat of her brother’s car.

Alice woke up to the smell of coffee and the sound of two people talking quietly. For a second she was confused where she were. She opened her eyes, but did not recognize the place. The couch she was lying on was made of leather, she couldn’t tell if she was inside a house or a flat. The voices she heard sounded familiar, but she wasn’t sure who they were. For a moment she thought that she was at a new foster family. It had happened before that they didn’t have a bed and she had to sleep on the couch. But then the memories hit her. She had to be in the house of Nicky and her brothers in Columbia. She remembered falling asleep in the Maserati after leaving Eden’s Twilight in a rush. The sound of the two voices talking changed into the sound of two people kissing.

Surprised, Alice sat up as quietly as she could. She could spot Neil with a small, blonde man in the kitchen. Based on his black armbands it was Andrew. A tiny smile appeared on Alice’s lips. She had guessed that there was something going on between the two men, but she had not been sure.  
Quietly, she lied back down and faked a yawn as authentically as she could so they would know that she was awake. The kissing stopped. Alice got up. She was still dressed in her party outfit and probably had make up all over her face.

”Good morning,” she said quietly and walked into the kitchen.

”Morning,” Neil said and raised his coffee cup to his lips, ”Coffee?”

”I’ll head to the bathroom first,” Alice said.

”Just down the hall.”

Alice nodded and left the two alone. A look in the bathroom mirror told her she looked like shit. Her make up was smeared all over her face and her hair was a mess. She washed her face as good as she could and put her hair up in a bun. She couldn’t do anything about her clothes so she just kept on her leather skirt and the black top she had been wearing the last night. After a last look in the mirror she returned to the kitchen and thankfully took the cup Neil offered her.

The boys were sharing a cigarette and Alice leaned against the kitchen counter. She watched Andrew, wondering what he thought about the last night, about the talk they have had before she left him to dance. The things he had told her were wandering through her head and she was wondering, if he had ever told somebody this. Why he would trust her enough to tell her this, she had no idea. Maybe Andrew was looking for someone who shared his experiences, someone who understood what his childhood had been like. Alice hoped that she could be that someone.

Nicky stumbled into the kitchen. He looked like the complete opposite of what one would call a morning person. His dark hair was messy and he had glitter all over his face.

”Coffee,” he grumbled.

Alice smiled, put her cup aside and poured him one. Andrew and Neil left the kitchen to wake up Kevin and Aaron, because Neil wanted to drive back to PSU to meet with Dan and Matt for lunch. Alice was left alone in the kitchen with Nicky, who drowned his coffee like the drinks yesterday.  
”Better,” he snorted, after finishing his coffee.

”Good morning to you too,” Alice finally said with a smile.

Nicky grinned and hugged her. He rested his chin on her head and they stood like this for some time.

”Good morning, little cousin,” Nicky said softly.

Alice’s smile got even bigger and she hugged him back.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Of course I am aware of the fact, that there are many amazing and loving foster homes and that many parents just want the best for their foster children. I am not a foster child so I do not know out of experience what it is like to be one. But Alice would not exactly be a Fox or a Minyard if she had been lucky for all her life, right?


	5. The Kids Aren't Alright

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Alice meets Betsy Dobson and gets to know one of her teammates a little bit better.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> WARNING: This chapter consists of references of murder. Also slight anxiety.

The day before classes began, the Foxes were supposed to meet up with the psychiatrist Betsy Dobson, who was the official therapist of the Foxes. They were supposed to meet with her every semester, but they could see her whenever they wanted to. Alice knew that Andrew and Aaron were having shared sessions with her to sort out their issues, but she was not too sure whether it really worked out that well.

Wymack scheduled them to go in pairs so the others could still practice. Alice went with Farid, the freshman Kevin had screamed at during Alice’s first practice. They took Hector’s car.

Farid was driving, which gave Alice the chance to take a good look at him. She didn’t have the chance to spend some time with the rest of her team yet, except for Issie and Sheena. Farid’s skin was a little bit darker and he had dark, a bit longer hair and big, beautiful dark eyes. He definitely looked like he was from a country somewhere in the East, maybe Egypt or Israel. He barely talked during practice, but when he did, one could hear his slight accent. Alice only knew that he was roommates with all the other freshman boys and that he was playing as an offensive dealer. He seemed a little bit shy, which made him the perfect target for Kevin. But as far as Alice could assess, Farid was actually doing a good job on court.

”So,” Farid began and cleared his throat, breaking the awkward silence, ”How’s rooming with Sheena?”

Alice expected any question, but not this. She had expected him asking questions about her brothers or her past, but not about Sheena. Farid saw her confused look and chuckled.

”I mean, luckily she barely hangs out with us, because she’s always with Jack, but as far as I know she’s quite a bitch,” Farid said with a smirk.

”It’s alright,” she said, confused that this shy and quiet boy suddenly seemed so quirky, ”We mostly ignore each other.”

”Best way to deal with assholes,” Farid agreed, ”We tried doing that with Jack, but then he just gets more and more annoying.”

After her first day, Alice has had not a single interaction with Jack, even though they both were strikers. She had only noticed that he seemed to hate Neil and worshipped Kevin.

”Is he really that bad?” Alice asked.

Farid laughed. His laugh sounded beautiful, like it was made of pure joy. ”He’s mostly just a pain in the ass. He used to be a devoted Ravens fan, actually I think he still is, and he never shuts up about Kevin and Riko. Also he seems to be a bit homophobic. He always makes dumb comments about Nicky,” Farid explained.

Alice wondered where all those words came from. Maybe during practice he was just intimidated by the older Foxes, especially Kevin. It had to be hard to get shouted at all the time without actually doing anything wrong, but then again, most of the Foxes had suffered through injustice all their lives and should be used to it by now. She wondered why he had qualified for the Foxes, but she honestly didn’t know a single thing about the other freshmen and why Wymack had recruited them. The stories of most of the others Foxes were well known by now, but she couldn’t even guess by their behaviors why the new Foxes were Foxes.

”I guess it’s a good thing that he ignores me,” Alice said.

”Probably,” Farid agreed. The whole situation was about to get awkward, but then Farid started talking again, ”But it’s a good thing all the others are mostly nice. Well, I haven’t had too much contact with Andrew and his lot so far, but the other older Foxes have been very nice to us freshmen.”

Alice really did expected him to ask questions about Andrew and the others, but was surprised that he didn’t. Maybe he didn’t want to pressure her to talk about them, which she appreciated.

”You’d expect a team, that just won the title to be a bit more arrogant, but honestly, they all work so hard as if they hadn’t won a single thing in their lives.”

”I guess most of the Foxes aren’t used to winning anything,” Alice said quietly.

Farid nodded. ”That’s true,” he said and his tone darkened a bit. Again, Alice wondered why he was here, but didn’t dare to ask. He hadn’t asked her any unpleasant questions and she wanted to return that favor.

Farid finally parked the car in front of the Reddin Medical Center, where Betsy Dobson had her office.  
”Have you been so a psychiatrist before?” Farid asked her, while they walked into the building.

Alice nodded. ”As a foster child you see a bunch of psychiatrists, especially if you behave inadequately,” she said with a sarcastic undertone.

Farid grinned. ”Inadequately?” he repeated, ”I see, you’re a rebel.”

”Have you ever been to one?” Alice asked, ignoring his comment.

”No,” Farid answered shortly. His tone changed a little bit.

They both signed in at the front desk and then looked at each other.

”Ladies first,” Farid said, his voice a little bit shaky.

Alice didn’t want to argue, especially because he had been so nice to her and really did seem like he did not want to see Dobson first, so she just agreed and went down the hall to search for Dobson’s office. She found it, her name was on a plaque beside one of the doors, and knocked.  
”Come in!” a voice from the inside called.

Alice opened the door, a little bit nervous, to see a brown-haired woman sitting behind a desk. She smiled and her smile seemed genuine, but Alice knew better than to trust every person with a nice smile. She had grown up amongst authorities that could not be trusted and just because every authority here had been nice to her so far, she didn’t have to trust them unconditionally.  
”Good morning,” she said and made an inviting gesture, ”Please, come in.”

Dobson got up as soon as Alice stepped into the room and gestured to the chair, couch and coffee table, which filled up one of the corners of the room. ”Shall we sit there?”

Alice shrugged, but sat down on the couch.

”Do you want hot cocoa?” Dobson asked.

”No, thank you,” Alice answered politely.

Dr. Dobson sat down on the chair opposite of the couch and gave Alice a warm smile. ”My name is Betsy Dobson. You can call me anything you want, I’ll answer to anything,” she offered Alice her hand and Alice gave it a quick shake. ”You must be Alice Minyard. Shall I call you Alice, or would you prefer Ms. Minyard?”

”Alice is just fine,” Alice answered.

”Alright,” Dobson said, ”There’s no need to worry or stress about anything. Today is just a casual appointment to get to know each other a little bit. Have you seen a counselor before?”

”Yes,” Alice answered shortly.

”For what reasons?” Dobson asked and looked at Alice through her glasses.

”As a foster kid, there are many reasons to see a counselor. One time my foster parents thought I might be depressed, because my mother abandoned me. I wasn’t. Other foster parents didn’t like the way I behaved and sent me to a counselor to sort out my problems.”

”And do you think seeing a counselor helped?” Dobson asked.

”Maybe it would’ve helped if they sent me there for other reasons,” Alice answered and her whole body stiffened a little bit.

”What reasons?”

”I’d rather not talk about that,” Alice said and started playing with a strand of her hair. She started getting worried about Betsy asking more questions. She did not want to talk about her time in foster care, not really. At least not to this psychiatrist. Talking to Andrew had already been hard enough.

”Alright,” Dobson said and Alice was glad that she dropped the subject. ”How is the life as a Fox working out for you? Are you getting along with your teammates?”

”It’s working out just fine. Most of my teammates are nice,” Alice answered. She was sure that Dobson was interested in how she got along with her brothers, considering that they were both seeing her every week, but she didn’t want to give away too much, without Dobson actually asking, but at the same time she wanted to talk about her brothers. She wanted to talk about how happy she was. She wanted to talk about Columbia, where they didn’t hesitate to beat up the guy who was harassing her. She wanted to talk about them accepting her into their lives. She also wanted to talk about her being insecure when they were around and not wanting to mess anything up. She wanted to talk about all these things, but just not with Betsy Dobson.

”Do you think the team’s ready for your first match this season?”

Alice didn’t know why Dobson wanted to talk about Exy, but she went with it. ”Yes, I think we are ready. The older Foxes are willing to show everybody that they are as strong as they were last season and with us freshmen as support, the team is even stronger.”

”That’s great,” Dobson said, ”Are you nervous about the match?”

”Not really,” Alice answered honestly.

”Have you been playing Exy for long?”

”I started playing in my junior year at High School.”

”Where did you go to High School?” Dobson asked.

Alice hesitated for a second. Talking about her time in High School was dangerously close to talking about her time in foster care. ”Seattle,” she answered quietly, hoping Dobson would get the message.  
She probably did get the message, but she kept talking. ”I’ve never been to Seattle, but I’ve always wanted to. How is it there?”

”It’s alright,” Alice lied. Life in Seattle had been mostly horrible, not necessarily because of the city, but because of the people she had been living with there.

”I guess you don’t want to talk about Seattle,” Dobson said calmly. Her distanced look slowly wandered over Alice’s face. She felt weirdly vulnerable and exposed.

”You guessed correctly.”

”What do you want to talk about then?”

Alice sighed. This meeting would not be over quickly. Alice told Dobson stories from practice and told her that she wasn’t getting along with Sheena until Dobson finally asked about Aaron and Andrew.  
”How are things with Andrew and Aaron? I suppose the whole situation is very new to you,” she said.  
”You have already talked to them about me,” Alice observed.

”What I talk about with Andrew and Aaron is strictly private. Besides, I want to know how the situation is for you, not them.”

Alice thought about it for a second. There were many things she could say now. Too many. She could fill hours with just talking about her brothers. ”I like having a family,” she finally said, ”I never had one before, not really. They and Nicky are everything I have.”

”But you’ve only known them for about two weeks now,” Dobson determined.

”Yes,” Alice said, ”But they are my family. I have spent every day since I have arrived here with them. I’m slowly getting to know me and they are slowly getting to know me. They are giving me a chance to be in their lives and that’s more than anyone would have guessed. I know that the other Foxes were betting on whether they’d keep me or abandon me. I also know that they aren’t easy, but they are everything I have.”

”It’s nice that you found them and that you get along with them so well,” Dobson said and smiled at Alice.

”Do you think it’s also good for them that I have found them?” Alice asked. She knew that the twins’ relationship was complicated. Nicky hinted, that they basically hate each other. Suddenly having a sister could make things better, but it could also make things a lot worse.

”As I said, my sessions with your brothers are strictly private, but I suppose I can tell you, that you are something they have in common, something that neither of them has had the chance to destroy or keep for themselves. And I think that’s a good thing,” Dobson said, after thinking about it for a few seconds.

”Thanks for your honesty,” Alice said.

They switched to easier topics, but Dobson’s words had settled in the back of Alice’s head.  
After they were done, Alice returned to the hallway, Dobson waited in her office to meet Farid, who sat on one of the blue couches in the waiting room. Alice could tell he was very nervous, his face was a mask of anxiety and he looked at her, searching for help. She felt sorry for him, but couldn’t really do anything.

”How was it?” Farid asked, his accent suddenly seemed a lot stronger than before.  
”It’s not bad. Trust me, she’s very nice. She won’t ask you about topics you don’t want to talk about,” Alice assured him.

Farid nodded, still seeming very worried, but he got up and left the waiting room. Alice looked after him for a few moments, before settling on one of the couches and waiting for him to get back.  
After half an hour, Farid finally returned, looking pale, but relieved. He didn’t say a single word and Alice wasn’t going to pressure him into talking, so they were quiet whilst walking back to Hector’s car.  
”You were right, it wasn’t that bad,” Farid said, as soon as they sat in the car again, ”I try running away from my past as good as possible and she didn’t pressure me into talking about it or anything. When she realized that it was an unpleasant topic, she dropped it.”

”Same goes for me,” Alice answered.

”My father fanatically believes in the Egyptian mythology,” Farid suddenly said, ”He tried raising me and my sister after the old beliefs. We were born in the States, but my parents moved back to Egypt when I was six and my sister four. Our mother got cancer when I was ten and my sister eight. My father refused to send her to a hospital so she could get professional help and instead hired Egyptian healers who tried curing her with the help of the Gods. He forced us to pray to the Gods everyday so our mom could get better. When she got worse he blamed us for it. He said that we didn’t really believe in the old Gods and that our heads were full of Western ideologies and thoughts. Sometimes he even tried beating the Western thoughts out of us. Whatever he did, my mother’s condition only got worse,” Farid paused for a second, trying to hold it together. They were still in they parking lot at Reddin, but Alice didn’t really mind. She was surprised that Farid opened up to her like that, but maybe he just needed someone to talk about. Maybe he was just seeking for someone who would just listen and not ask any questions.

”My father only saw one solution. My sister and I were the problem. He would’ve gotten rid of both of us, but he couldn’t just have another child with my mother because she was too sick and I was their only son, meaning the heir of the family,” Farid paused again, staring directly at the windscreen of the car. His voice started to get shaky again, ”He sacrificed my sister to the Gods when she was eleven. I had just turned thirteen and I was in the room when he did it. It’s the most horrible thing I have ever seen. My mother was too sick to realize what was going on, but she kept on asking where her daughter was. We never gave her an answer. The sacrifice didn’t help and my mother died just weeks after my sister had died. My father was in grief and he was angry at the Gods, so we moved back to the US. He hasn’t lost his beliefs, but he is still angry at the Gods for not hearing him. I told him a million times that the Gods don’t exist, but he doesn’t listen. By now he is only an old, sick man.”

A tear rolled over Farid’s cheek, but he brushed it away quickly. He avoided to meet Alice’s look and took a deep breath. ”Sorry for bothering you with this,” he apologized.

”You don’t need to apologize for it,” Alice assured him. She recited the urge to lay her hand on his shoulder to comfort him. ”But… Why me?”

Farid shrugged. ”You seemed like a good listener, who understands that sometimes you only need to listen to comfort a person and not give them any advice or express your sympathy, because that just makes it worse most of the time,” he explained and finally looked at Alice.

Alice was a bit overwhelmed with the whole situation. Nobody had ever opened up to her like this and something gave her the feeling that this was the first time Farid had ever really talked about it. She could understand him, just talking about it sometimes helped to process things. It was a good thing, that his story was so different to hers, so it didn’t provoke any unpleasant feelings. She now looked at Farid with completely different eyes and wondered, how a boy that has went through so much could still laugh like he was filled with joy.

”By the way, I don’t expect you to return the favor and tell me your story,” Farid assured Alice and started the motor, ”But just know that I would listen.”

”Thank you,” Alice said. This boy proved himself to be a mystery. Mixed feelings rose inside of her, because of her talk with Dobson, because of her talk with Farid. Of course she knew that many terrible things were happening in the world, but suddenly her story with every horrible detail seemed like just another story in a pot of thousands of tragedies.

”You’re welcome,” Farid answered.

The drive back to the stadium was very quiet, both of them barely talked. They had to process everything that had just happened for themselves. When they got out of the car, Farid seemed a bit more composed than just a few minutes ago. He appeared to be ready again to face the other Foxes. They split up into their different locker rooms and Alice changed as quickly as she could. Together, they walked back onto the court and as soon as Coach saw them, he called the next pair, Magnus and Allison, off the court.

”Took you long enough,” Wymack commented, before sending Alice and Farid onto their positions. 

After practice, the team met in the lounge. Alice sat down on one of the couches, next to Aaron and was curious about what was to come. She met Farid’s glance for a second, but looked away quickly.  
”Okay, everyone listen! Andrew, stop playing with your knife,” Coach shouted and sent Andrew a warning glare.

Andrew returned the glare, but eventually put the knife back in his armband. Alice could see that Jack and Sheena exchanged a quick look, but all the other Foxes didn’t really care about this encounter. Especially the older Foxes were used to Andrew playing with his knifes.

”Classes start tomorrow, meaning there will be different practice times. Six o’clock at the gym in the morning, afternoon practices here at three in the afternoon. Be late and run extra laps, it’s your choice. Understood?”

”Yes, Coach,” the Foxes said in choir.

”On Friday we’re up against Belmonte. Last season we pretty much destroyed them, but this is not last season. I want you all to give all you have and more. Belmonte’s going to be pissed we kicked them out, they’ll be motivated to destroy us on Friday. Luckily it’s a home match for us, but that’s not a reason to be lazy. I expect you to kick Belmonte’s asses, alright?”

”Yes, Coach.”

”And now out of my sight, before I kick all of your asses,” Coach declared happily.

The Foxes got out as quick as they could.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I hope you liked this chapter! This is what happens when you give a minor character a huge backstory. I couldn't help but fall in love with Farid, he's inspired by the character Farid from Inkheart by Cornelia Funke.
> 
> This chapter might've been a bit boring for some of you. Don't worry, the next chapter will be a bit more interesting. Alice's first game as a Fox, yay!


	6. We Will Rock You

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The first game of the seasons goes off a bit different than hoped for, but the Foxes still party afterwards.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I am really sorry if this chapter sucks, but tbh I don't know anything about Exy and for the last days it has been really hot and this chapter has been written over quite a long period of time because I was extremely busy, but I still hope that you all enjoy it!

The first day of class went off without any really interesting incidents. Alice’s professors all seemed to be okay and she could keep up with the stuff they were saying. Many students had been dressed in orange and white, the official PSU colors, to celebrate the first day of the semester. Many athletes had been wearing their team jerseys, but Alice renounced wearing white and orange, let alone her team jersey. On game day, the athletes were expected to wear the PSU-colors, so Alice would not be able to fight wearing them on the next day.

During practice, Alice noticed that some of the freshmen were a little bit more nervous than usual. Tomorrow would be their first game as a Fox, their first game in Class I. Even the older Foxes seemed to be a bit more tense than usual, tomorrow they had to prove that they were still as good as last season.

Kevin seemed to be angry at all of them at once and snapped at most of them. Again, especially Farid received all of Kevin’s unreasonable anger. At the end of practice Farid sent Alice a look, clearly seeking for some help. Alice simply shrugged and disappeared into the girls’ locker room.

Andrew and Neil disappeared right onto the roof after arriving at Fox Tower.

Nicky started fake-coughing. ”Use protection,” he called after them.

Alice had to hide a smile. She could see how Aaron made a face, but chose to ignore it. Right afterwards Aaron disappeared, probably to meet with Katelyn and Kevin went to his room. Alice stood in the hallway for a few seconds, feeling a bit lost. She had spent almost every afternoon in the boys’ room, but she didn’t know what she should do, now that Andrew and Neil were on the roof. She didn’t really want to spend time with Kevin alone. His constantly bad mood already was exhausting enough when other people were around. Kevin had barely talked to her so far and she figured, he didn’t want to spend time with her alone either.

”You wanna come with me to my room?” Nicky asked Alice.

Alice agreed happily, not really wanting to go to her room, because Sheena would probably be there.  
She spent the afternoon and evening in the room of Matt, Nicky and Aaron, without Aaron actually being there, but with the senior girls being there. Dan and Matt were cuddled up together on the one end of the couch, Allison and Renee on the other. Nicky and Alice got some cushions to sit on.  
It was weird to hang out with the older Foxes without one of her brothers being there. She had gotten so used to her evenings being filled with Andrew smoking in the room, barely saying anything, Neil next to Andrew, trying to engage in the conversation, which was mostly held by Nicky. Kevin would sometimes disappear into the bedroom or just back to the court. He seemed to be restless and frustrated, but nobody could really help him.

Hanging out with the other Foxes was different. They were different. They laughed a lot and made jokes, there was no aggressive undertone at all. Nicky seemed to relax a bit more when being with them, which made Alice happy, but a little bit sad at the same time. Of course she noticed how tense Nicky was when being around Andrew. She didn’t want her brother to scare her cousin. But she appreciated that Nicky still stuck to Andrew and Aaron, despite their behavior.

On game day, afternoon practice was cancelled. Alice knew that Kevin went to court anyways and that he dragged Andrew and Neil with him. She had a light dinner with Issie and the other freshmen, except for Sheena and Jack, in her room. Issie and Magnus prepared the food, whilst Alice and the others were chilling on the couch. Somehow, Alice ended up next to Farid. She tried to keep her distance, but the couch was tiny and there were three people sitting on it and two of them were very well-built athletes. Alice was pressed up against Farid. His whole body was warm against her cold one and she felt every single one of his movements. Alice completely tensed up, until Issie and Magnus finally finished preparing the food and she switched to sitting on the ground with Issie, so Magnus could sit on the couch.

Hanging out with the freshmen was even more awkward than hanging out with the upperclassmen. They didn’t really seem to know how to act around Alice, but she appreciated that they were being nice to her, unlike Jack and Sheena.

They drove to the stadium together in Hector’s car, meeting the others there and Wymack directed the Foxes right into the changing rooms. After changing, they took a look at Belmonte’s starting line-up.  
”They really want to beat us, don’t they?” Dan murmured, after taking a short look at the line-up.  
Alice didn’t know anything about Belmonte, she barely bothered giving the line-up a look. She wasn’t on the starting line-up for the Foxes, so she would have a chance to get a good look at all the players, before going on court.

”Fuckers,” Matt said, when he looked at Belmonte’s line-up. Apparently they had put all of their best players on the starting line, whereas the Foxes had a very mixed line-up. Their starting line-up consisted of Renee in the goal, Matt and Issie as backliners, Dan as dealer and Kevin and Jack as strikers.

”Okay, listen to me, maggots,” Wymack started, ”As predicted, Belmonte’s not fooling around. They’re sending all of their best and oldest players on court to scare us and to make as many points in the beginning as possible. But they forgot that our team is bigger and even stronger than last season. This season our team consists of more than just nine strong players. So go out and make them sorry they even bothered to come.”

The Foxes lined up at the door in order of their playing position, leaving Alice stuck in between Kevin and Jack. Dan led her team onto court and as soon as Alice entered it, she heard the loud cheering and clapping of the crowd. She knew that the Foxes gained a lot of fans during the last season and that it was a home game, but she hadn’t expected to see so many people in the audience dressed in white and orange. Adrenaline rushed through her veins, the noise the audience made started buzzing in her ears.

Belmonte were on their half and Alice could feel their eyes on her. NCAA had released information on all the new freshmen of every Class I team a few days ago. She hadn’t looked at any Exy newspaper or news channel yet, but she was well aware of the fact, that her last name would attract the attention of the journalists and the other teams. Her brothers, especially Andrew, were not just ordinary Exy players.

Dan started the warm-up drills and Alice had no time to think about the media anymore. She had to focus on the drills and soon, everything else was forgotten. After twenty minutes, warm-up time was over and the athletes were led off the court. The announcer started talking, as soon as the teams had left the court and went through all of the players’ names. Alice didn’t miss the loud murmur that went through the crowd, as the name ”Alice Minyard” was announced. Soon afterwards, the starting line left the subs and positioned themselves on court.

Alice took a look at the other subs. Andrew appeared extremely bored but he stood next to Neil, who seemed to be in a heated discussion with Wymack. The freshmen were crowded together, quietly talking. Alice felt an elbow hitting her side.

”Excited, cub?” Allison asked.

”Really? Cub?”

She shrugged. ”I thought it would fit.”

”Oh my God, cub is the word I was looking for for so long?” Nicky asked, his eyes wide open. ”And I called the freshmen baby foxes like a fool.”

”Nicky, you are a fool,” Aaron commented dryly.

”Better than a joyless slob,” Nicky shot back.

Aaron’s response was drowned when a buzzer went off and the game began. Alice felt every scream of the crowd on her skin, the blood and adrenaline rushing through her veins even faster than before when she had walked onto court. She was full of useless energy and started bouncing up and down on her feet. In her high school team she had always been on the starting line. After all those games, she was not used to being a sub.

Once the players on court started moving, all the subs were on the walls, cheering and clapping for their teammates. Within the first few minutes, one of the Belmonte backliners tripped Jack and he lost the ball. The Foxes’ fans roared angrily and Sheena screamed insults at the backliner. Jack made a rude gesture, but continued playing. Only a few seconds later one of the strikers slammed hard into Issie, putting her off her feet. She got up fast and screamed at the striker angrily.

”Get him, girl,” Nicky said, narrowing his eyes.

The game continued without a single score of one of the teams. Belmonte’s defense was too strong, too aggressive for Kevin and Jack to actually get a good shot at the goal. But the Foxes’ defense was strong as well with Matt being the more dominant force, but Issie did a good job as well. Renee didn’t even have to really do anything, the backliners wouldn’t let Belmonte’s strikers get far enough to get to the goal.

After a few more minutes, Wymack was screaming frustratedly at his strikers. ”Useless pricks!” he shouted, well knowing they couldn’t hear him.

It was a fast, but far more aggressive match. Alice noticed Belmonte’s frustration and aggression, even from behind the wall. She wasn’t surprised when Kevin snapped. His screaming could be heard through the walls, while he let his frustration out on Jack. Alice shot a look at Farid, who was watching the scenery. She wondered, if he was happy that this time it was Jack who got all of Kevin’s anger.  
Wymack watched the disaster for a few more minutes, before sending Neil onto court for Jack. It seemed reasonable, considering it was the offense that was lacking in force, not the defense, but Jack didn’t seem to agree with the decision. He immediately went to Sheena to complain about it. Alice guessed, it didn’t help that Neil subbed for Jack.

Unsurprisingly, things changed in favor of the Foxes, once Neil was in the game. There were reasons for Kevin wanting to make Neil Court and for some Exy specialists saying, Neil might become one of the best strikers in NCAA Class I. Neil wasn’t very big, but he was faster than anybody else on the court. After few minutes, Kevin scored for the first time, due to the fascinating teamwork of the two strikers.

Losing the first point only made Belmonte even angrier. Things started to get ugly very fast. They started fouling the Foxes, obviously trying to drive the single players to the point where they couldn’t stand or play anymore. Alice thought that it was stupid to focus on Dan and the backliners, because Neil and Kevin just kept scoring, while Belmonte’s players focused on tripping the other players and smashing them against the plexiglass walls.

The match was so rapid, so aggressive, that Alice almost didn’t notice how Dan got smashed against one of the walls pretty badly. Afterwards, she didn’t get up again. Immediately, Wymack was at the glass, a referee next to him. Allison started screaming ugly insults at the Belmonte backliner, who had smashed Dan against the wall and Nicky joined her until Abby shushed them, pointing to the referee, who was standing only a few meters away.

The game continued, whilst Dan tried to stand up, but it just got even messier. Matt, in obvious rage, started fouling Belmonte players and quickly got into a fight with some of them. Before a referee could interfere, Issie dragged Matt away from the mess.

Dan decided, she couldn’t play any longer and Wymack sent Allison onto court for her. The backliner received a yellow card for smashing Dan, as well did Matt for throwing the first punch in the fight he had. Matt accepted his, grimly grinning.

The game continued. At the end of the first half, the points were 5:1 in favor of the Foxes. Abby had already taken care of Dan, so in the short break, she checked quickly on all the Foxes who had just played.

”Alright,” Wymack shouted, gaining everyone’s attention, ”Belmonte’s playing ugly. Really ugly. They care more about hurting us than about actually scoring, which we should use as an advantage.”

”How is it an advantage that they are trying to kill us?” Magnus asked.

Wymack shot him a quick glance. ”I wasn’t done talking yet.”

”Sorry, Coach.”

”You better be. As I said, we gotta use it as an advantage. I don’t think that they can catch up to our scores, because their offense is just lousy, but we wanna start the season with a bang, eh?”  
”Yes, Coach!” the Foxes roared.

”And we gotta teach them a lesson,” Dan added, ”They cannot intimidate us.”

”Exactly,” Matt agreed, putting his arm around Dan’s shoulders, ”They can try hurting us, but we are stronger.”

”Nice pep talk,” Wymack interrupted, ”but that’s enough. In second half I want Andrew in goal, Aaron and Nicky as backliners, Farid as dealer and Neil and Alice as strikers.”

Alice almost chocked on her own spit when she heard her name. Of course she knew that she would be playing in this game, but somehow she hadn’t expected it.

”All the Minyards on one line-up,” Sheena mumbled, ”Belmonte’s going to think they are in a psychiatry. In the section for deeply disturbed people.”

Alice turned around to look at Sheena, her face red. One day she was going to smash this girl’s head with her racquet. Why not today?

”Shut the fuck up, Sheena,” Allison suddenly said, ”Nobody wants your negativity. Besides, being a pathetic fucktard is making you even uglier than you natural face.”

For a short moment, the Foxes were completely quiet. Alice was surprised by Allison’s unexpected support. She though the blonde girl hated her, or at least disliked her, judging by the way she treated Alice.

Nicky started laughing really loudly and Matt and some of the freshmen quickly joined him. Even Dan couldn’t hide a grin, despite as captain she should respect all her teammates. Andrew was the only one who kept a straight face. He probably hadn’t even listened to the conversation.

”You done?” Wymack asked, annoyed, ”Get your asses back on the court and at least try to be nice to each other. We need some good press.”

Excitement started flooding through Alice’s veins as the Foxes roared ”Yes Coach!” and the screams of the crowd buzzed in her ears as the Foxes returned to court.

She wanted to get straight to her position, but Nicky gave her a firm hug. ”Kill ’em,” he said with a cheery smile.

Alice gave him a thumbs-up before following Neil over the court. On her way she passed Farid, who seemed happy that Wymack hadn’t put him on court with Kevin or Jack. She could see the determination in his eyes and felt even a bit more energized.

Adrenaline and excitement rushed through her veins as she took her position. Finally, she felt like she had arrived completely. Being on court during a game was something Alice was used to, something familiar. She knew she could trust her family to guard the Foxes’ goal and the rest was upon her and Neil.

Second half started like first half had ended: fast and aggressive. Belmonte had put on a new line-up as well, but the new players acted just like the others. Belmonte had the ball, but Nicky stole it from one of the strikers and passed it to Farid, who passed it to Neil. Suddenly Neil had both of Belmonte’s backliners right in front of him and Alice was free. She supposed the backliners didn’t really see her as a threat, considering her height and her lean figure.

”Alice!”

She caught the ball just a few seconds later, but the backliners were fast to react. Her mark came running towards her, crashing into her hard, sending Alice off of her feet. It took her barely a few seconds to get up again, furious. But they had already lost the ball.

Luckily, Aaron managed to snatch away the ball from one of the strikers, before he even had a chance to aim for a shot at the goal. Wymack had been right; Belmonte’s offense was more than lousy. Quickly enough, the ball got back to Neil and Alice. Alice ran five steps with it before passing it to Neil, who had sneaked his way past the backliners and towards Belmonte’s goal. Right before he could fire a shot at the goal, his backliner mark tripped him and stole the ball.

Alice swore under her breath. Clearly, Belmonte had changed their strategies a bit. They were now focusing on the strikers rather than on the others. Maybe they had given up on trying to score and were now trying to prevent the Foxes from scoring.

Neil and Alice tried a few more times, always getting close to firing a shot at the goal, but never managing to actually shoot.

”Fucking assfaces!”, Nicky yelled, half the court away.

”I guess you’re just too bad to score,” Alice’s backliner mark said to her. 

”I wouldn’t say that too loud, concerning the points are 5 to 1, our favor,” Alice shot back.

The backliner didn’t even blink. ”Must be hard to make your debut in Class I and to suck to badly,” he said.

Alice was getting angry. Really angry. For a second she could’ve sworn she had seen red in the corner of her field of view. She tried to concentrate and channel that anger so she could play faster, more aggressive, better. It worked; a few minutes later Alice got past the backliners with the ball in her net and Farid and Neil were keeping the backliners busy. She threw the goddamned ball with everything she had, a few seconds later the goal lit up red and Alice felt relief filling her up.

”Good job,” Neil said, as she jogged back onto her position, clacking sticks with her.

The rest of the game was tough and ugly, Belmonte took out Farid by body-checking him against the wall two or three times until he couldn’t hold his racquet anymore. Nicky was throwing the most creative insults Alice had ever heard at the players, which made her smile. Sheena came onto court for Farid, but the overall situation stayed the same. Neither Belmonte nor the Foxes managed to score again and despite their win, most of the Foxes were pissed after the game. Many of them were only limping and most of them would wake up with bruises on their bodies. Belmonte had spared out nobody and Alice’s thigh felt weirdly stiff, but she wasn’t even sure what had hit her there. Belmonte had knocked her off her feet too often to remember, when she got hurt where.

Even though Alice had scored, she was angry. She probably couldn’t have done better, but she was mad at Belmonte for making her first game in NCAA Class I Exy such a terrible disaster.

Wymack seemed pissed as well, but luckily not at the Foxes. ”It was a rough game,” he said. ”If I see anybody limping at practice, I’ll bench them for the next game. So y’all better get well during the night. Now go and get wasted.”

The Foxes met up in the basement study room of Fox Tower, along with the Vixens, the cheerleading team of the Foxes. Alice was excited, yet a bit nervous. Katelyn, Aaron’s girlfriend was a Vixen and she had never spoken to her so far. She hoped, that Aaron would introduce them, but she honestly doubted it.

As soon as he entered the room, Kevin grabbed a bottle of vodka and sat down on one of the couches. Alice guessed, the game must’ve been really tiring for him, maybe even more than for the other Foxes. He was stretching his left hand a bit and looked pensive. Seeing him all alone like that moved something inside of Alice.

After a second of hesitation, she grabbed her drink and sat down next to him. His tattoo was on the other side, so Alice could get a good look at his face. Kevin was handsome, no question, but the obvious burden on him made him seem more gloomy than his bare appearance gave away.  
”Hey,” she said carefully. Alice had never before really spoken to Kevin.

The room was filling itself with athletes and cheerleaders, with music and with the smell of alcohol. Alice could see Dan and Allison dancing with Nicky, wondering, how they still had the strength to dance after a game like that. But she noticed how Dan seemed to dance extra carefully, probably taking Wymack’s threat very seriously.

”Hey,” Kevin answered, sounding annoyed.

”You look frustrated,” Alice said.

Kevin thought about that for a second. ”It’s none of your business,” he finally said.

Alice ignored his rude response. ”Do you want to talk about it?”

Kevin groaned. He obviously didn’t.

”Hey, I’m just trying to be helpful,” Alice started defending herself.

”Then leave me alone so I can drink alcohol in peace.”

”At some point you’ll have to start talking to me. You know, I do realize that you try to avoid even looking at me.”

”I’m not exactly a nice person, maybe that’s why,” Kevin answered.

Alice didn’t answer. She simply took a sip of her drink and then made a face. ”Ew, what is that?”

”Who mixed your drink?”, Kevin asked.

”Nicky.”

”No surprise it’s disgusting, Nicky sucks at making drinks,” Kevin said. Then he abruptly got up and left. He went straight to the small bar Matt and Aaron had put up, where they had put all the booze and stuff to mix it with.

Alice was left behind, a little bit frustrated. She had never exactly been the most extrovert person, but Kevin not talking to her had bothered her. Even Neil talked to her. And she knew Andrew had his own way of acknowledging Alice’s existence and she respected that. But since her arrival, Kevin had practically acted, like she didn’t exist and that was annoying her.

Before she could get up and leave, Kevin returned, holding a cup in his hand. He handed it to her, not saying a single word, before starting to drink his vodka.

Alice took the cup, smiling a tiny bit and then took a sip. It was way better than Nicky’s drink. She didn’t get the chance to say anything to Kevin, because Aaron came up to her, right behind him a girl, slightly taller than him, with bright brown hair and a kind smile. She was wearing an orange hoodie with a fox paw and the number 5 on it. It was Aaron’s.

Alice automatically got up, when she saw them coming. Aaron seemed a bit nervous.

”Alice,” he started, ”This is Katelyn. My girlfriend. Katelyn, this is Alice. My sister.”

A warm feeling spread through Alice’s body. Aaron introducing her to Katelyn, Aaron calling her his sister. A few weeks ago things like that had been dreams, too far away to actually reach.

Katelyn and Alice shook hands and Katelyn smiled at Alice. Her smile was kind and warm and it seemed very genuine. Alice had not expected Katelyn to be all sweet and soft, but it somehow fit, that Aaron would fall in love with her, the complete contrast to Andrew, who was all rough and hard and complicated.

”It is so nice to finally meet you,” Katelyn said, ”Aaron has been talking a lot about you.”

Aaron and Alice simultaneously blushed and Katelyn laughed. She had a nice and warm laugh.  
”I am very glad he has you,” Alice admitted truthfully, attempting to smile as kind as Katelyn did. She appeared to be someone, Aaron could talk to, someone, Aaron could hide at. His safe haven. And Alice appreciated, someone taking care of her brother, especially considering the twins’ difficult past. She still only knew bits of it, but enough to know that it had been hard.

Aaron was getting even redder and almost choked on his drink when he heard that. Alice found his awkward behavior quite endearing. She had never expected to see one of her brothers act like that, but it was very sweet.

Katelyn and Alice ended up talking for a while with Aaron standing next to them, his arm around Katelyn’s shoulders, but he kept looking at Alice, even attempting to give her a smile.

At some point, Farid and Issie came up to them, both slinging their arms around Alice.

”Stop standing here and just talk,” Issie shouted, clearly drunk, ”This is a party, start acting like it.”  
Alice shot her brother and Katelyn an apologizing look, as she was dragged into the small bundle of dancing people.

The rest of the night was all music and alcohol and dancing and the sound of laughter and Andrew and Neil disappearing at some point, probably to make out.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Well, there's me ending the chapter with Andreil, because I'm trash. Also Kevin, my poor baby boy. I am sorry, I am emotional. Please leave some Kudos and comments if you liked this chapter!


	7. Girls Like Girls

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> A drunk incident and a talk with a brother.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> WARNING: This chapter includes some homophobic content, a little bit sexist. It also contains of references to past abuse and a minor panic attack.
> 
> Nevertheless I hope you enjoy this chapter!

A few weeks into the semester, Alice finally felt settled. She had gotten used to living with Issie and Sheena, to the practice with the Foxes and to her new classes. Most of her time was still spent with Andrew’s group, no matter if they were just hanging out or going to Columbia on Fridays. After their short talk, Kevin had accepted Alice as a part of their group, still not talking to her a lot, but sometimes. Nicky seemed to have forgotten that there had been a time, Alice had not been a part of their lives, because he treated her like she had always been there. He even took her out for shopping, or cousin-bonding as he called it.

The Foxes won their second game of the season, a game against Breckenridge and they took their celebration party to the study room. This match went off a lot better than the one against Belmonte. Breckenridge fought with passion and strength, but they stayed fair and it was a hard match, but in the end the Foxes won. Everybody seemed happier than after the Belmonte game, with more energy, but also a lot of alcohol.

Issie and Alice returned to their dorm together, holding hands. They were giggling and everything looked blurry to Alice. Her head was feeling funny. She has drunk alcohol quite often, growing up with shitty foster families she often needed it to calm down, but drinking purely for your own enjoyment was something different.

Issie somehow tripped and fell onto the couch, dragging Alice with her. They were giggling even louder.

”Ouch,” Issie said, but she could not have been seriously hurt, as she was still laughing.

Alice suddenly was very aware of the fact that she was lying on Issie and sat up, now sitting on her lap. Issie looked up to her, brown waves circling her pretty face, her blue eyes sparkling, like on Alice’s first day as a Fox, when Issie had made her coffee in the morning. This wasn’t the first time that Alice noticed how pretty Issie was. She had high cheekbones and those eyes.

”You’re so pretty,” Alice said, the words rolling off her tongue slowly. Her tongue got lazy because of the alcohol.

Issie grinned. ”What?”

”You’re so pretty,” Alice repeated, playing with a strand of Issie’s hair. 

She started giggling again. ”Thank you,” she responded and rose up a bit, ”You too.”

Suddenly, Alice really wanted to kiss her, which confused her. Sure, she had kissed girls before, she even had girlfriends, but so far she hadn’t had the urge to kiss Issie. But she was so pretty and Alice was weak for pretty girls, especially when drunk.

Issie seemed to feel the sudden change in the mood as well. Her glance got heavier, something in her expression changed. The air in the room suddenly felt hot and heavy.

Alice felt Issie’s hands on her thighs, her thumb slowly moving up and down on her leg.  
”I… I really want to kiss you,” Alice confessed, only whispering.

Issie’s expression got softer. She didn’t say anything, she just moved one of her hands to Alice’s neck and dragged her down to her.

Their lips met and the unexpected warmth of Issie’s lips caused explosions inside of Alice. She tasted sweet, like cotton candy or rather the sweet drink that both of them poured down their throats on the party. Kissing her was a sensation. It was too much for Alice’s drunk brain.

”What the fucking fuck?!”

Both of them jumped heavily and Alice fell off the couch. She couldn’t see her, but she knew it was Sheena who had interrupted them.

”No way! This is fucking disgusting. Oh my God. Have you two been banging for the whole time? Excuse me, I share a dorm with you freaks. This is so disgusting, I think I will puke. Fucking dykes.”  
Alice still didn’t look, but the loud bang as the door closed told her, that Sheena had left again. Issie started laughing and got up. She helped Alice get up on her feet again.

”Sorry for throwing you off the couch,” she apologized, but the smirk on her face made it obvious that she was not at all sorry.

All the sexual tension was gone. Alice felt dizzy and really really drunk. She somehow made it into her bed without falling off the ladder and fell asleep as soon as her head hit the pillow.

Alice woke up to the smell of coffee and the sound of Issie singing. She was surprised her head didn’t ache, but still wondered, how Issie could already be so awake at approximately really fucking early in the morning.

Images of last night flooded her mind and she could feel herself blushing as she thought of what had happened after the party. Her and Issie, Sheena interrupting them. Alice could hit herself for being stupid enough to make out drunk, especially with her roommate and her only friend amongst the freshmen. This friendship was probably ruined now. Carefully she climbed out of her bed and creeped into the living room.

”Good morning!” Issie called, interrupting her singing, ”Sheena hasn’t returned last night and still appears to be missing. She’s probably at the boys’ dorm.”

”I won’t miss her,” Alice mumbled. Her whole body was tense. Issie talked like nothing had ever happened, but they both knew that wasn’t true. Alice wasn’t interested in a relationship with Issie. Kissing her was good, really good actually, but Issie was her friend. And Alice wasn’t interested in extending that friendship into something deeper.

She cleared her throat. ”About yesterday…”

Issie turned around, holding two cups of coffee in her hands, smiling. ”Don’t worry about it, honestly. We were both deadass drunk and it didn’t mean anything. Besides, can’t friends exchange some friendly kisses sometimes?”

Alice felt incredibly relieved. Her heart felt ten times lighter and she smiled a little bit. Issie would not make things weird. Issie did not want a relationship. Issie still wanted to be friends.

She took the cup Issie offered her and took a sip. ”How unexpected that Sheena is not only a total pain in the ass, but also a homophobe,” Alice said, only half joking.

Issie started laughing. ”I know right? When I first moved in with her I told her about my last girlfriend and she was so shocked she almost choked on her food. It was hilarious. But then she started insulting me.”

”You’re a lesbian?” Alice asked, staring down into her coffee.

Issie shrugged. ”No. I mean, I don’t really know. I don’t care, I guess. I have been with boys as well, but then again my first ever boyfriend turned out to be trans, so she was a girlfriend. I don’t really mind what the person identifies as,” Issie explained very openly.

As usual, Alice was bewildered by Issie just talking about herself so casually.

”And you?”

”Huh?”

”Are you a lesbian?”

”Oh”, Alice said slowly, ”No, I’m not. I’m bi.”

They stayed quiet for a few moments. Alice wondered what Issie was thinking about, but her face revealed nothing.

Alice was reading a text for her Spanish class as the freshmen stormed the girls’ dorm. Unsurprisingly, Sheena and Jack weren’t with them.

”Hey girls!” Hector called out with a big grin on his face, not even trying to hide anything.

Alice looked up from her text for a second, before choosing to ignore the boys.

”Fuck off, Hec,” Issie declared cheerfully and held up her middle finger, ”No reason for you to grin like a dumbass.”

Hector let himself fall onto the couch where Issie was sitting. Alice could see that Magnus also had a big grin on his face. Farid though wasn’t looking happy at all. He was looking at Alice, his expression looking weirdly hurt.

”Tell me everything, Iss. How did it happen? Where did it happen? What did happen? Sheena didn’t want to tell us any details,” Hector explained, ”Come on, give me something to dream about tonight. I love girl on girl action.”

Alice couldn’t restrain herself from commenting on that stupid statement. ”That’s disgusting,” she said without looking up.

”What?” Hector said, clearly confused, ”What do you mean?”

With a sigh, Alice put away her text and looked Hector directly in the eye. ”You just hinted that you would like to dream about Issie and me making out or having sex. Makes me uncomfortable, makes her uncomfortable. Is generally a dumb thing to say. We do not need to tell you about our sex life and it is none of your business. You think girl on girl action is hot? Great, watch lesbian porn, they want to make you hot.”

Hector was blushing heavily, his whole head red. ”Chill Minyard, I was just joking.”

”Whatever,” Alice said, rolling her eyes.

”But she’s right,” Issie agreed quickly, ”It’s our business, not yours. Besides, there was just kissing.”  
Hector didn’t say anything. He just stared at his hands, his head red and he was probably pretty pissed at Alice, but she didn’t care. Hector could be funny, but sometimes he was just annoying and Alice wasn’t in the mood for his bullshit.

Magnus quickly started talking about how he totally has a hangover and that he has forgotten half of the things that happened last night. Hector, Issie and Magnus started talking about the party and Alice gathered her things to get up and go to the bedroom to work on her assignment in peace.

On her way she passed Farid, who was weirdly quiet and antisocial. He looked at her like she had done something wrong. ”How was it?” he asked sharply.

”Didn’t I make it obvious enough that it’s none of your business?” Alice snapped back.

Farid looked even more hurt. ”So it was good?”

”Oh my fucking God, Farid, what the hell is your problem?”

Farid grabbed her arm and drags her into the bedroom. His big brown eyes looked at her accusingly. Alice stared back in blank confusion and anger.

”Don’t act like you don’t know,” Farid said, quietly.

”Like I don’t know what?” Alice asked.

”That I have this huge crush on you. I just can’t get you out of my mind. And then you go and do this. Things like that hurt, Alice.” His voice was about to break.

Her things made a quiet sound as they fell onto the ground. Alice was completely overwhelmed by this statement. She had never expected him to say something like that, not so quickly. After they first talk in Hector’s car they had never had a private conversation again. Sure, they sometimes talked, but never that much.

”That’s not fair,” she finally stammered, ”I’m not responsible for your feelings.”

Farid opened his mouth, but Alice didn’t give him the chance to answer. She stormed out of the bedroom and out of the dorm. She felt pressed and completely overwhelmed. First the talk with Issie in the morning, then Hector’s bullshit and now Farid confessing his… His what? His feelings for her? Alice felt like everybody wanted something from her, like everybody was trying to get her, was trying to somehow hit her weak points. She felt like she was being tested. The hallway seemed to get smaller and smaller. Alice’s lungs protested, she couldn’t breathe anymore. As she tried to breathe in, her lungs started screaming and she covered her ears to make it stop. They didn’t want the oxygen. She didn’t want to die. Somehow she stumbled into Andrew’s room, her hands over her ears, tears in her eyes, breathing hysterically.

”What the fuck,” Kevin said, as Alice entered the room without a warning.

Everything was blurry. She only recognized Kevin because of his voice. There were weird sounds in the background, Alice couldn’t exactly classify. Maybe a video game, maybe something that was just in her mind.

”Alice,” she heard Nicky say, ”Alice, what’s wrong?”

She opened her mouth, but she couldn’t say anything. Not a single tone would come out of her mouth. Her lungs were still fighting against her.

Suddenly, there was a voice near to her, an intense, but calm voice. ”Alice. Breathe in and out. Concentrate on my words. In, out. In, out. Breathe slowly. In, out. In, out. In, out.”

Her vision finally cleared and she saw Andrew, right in front if her face. His eyes were clear, his expression blank as usual.

”Follow me,” he said, not waiting for her response, before leaving the room.

Alice slowly followed Andrew, stumbling behind him. He was taking her to his car. When she sat down on the leather seat, she could breath a bit better. When he started driving, her lungs stopped screaming. Alice slowly, very slowly started to relax while Andrew was driving murderously fast. His presence was calming down, she started breathing normally again, she heard and saw everything normally.

After a while, she started quietly talking, starting yesterday night with her and Issie and Sheena, continuing with the morning and then the talk with Hector and at the end Farid.

”I don’t know what he expected. It’s not fair to do something like that. He tries to make me responsible for what he is feeling because of things I do that have nothing to do with him. It’s not my fault that he has a crush on me. I’m not responsible for his feelings. I can make out with whoever I want to and it’s none of his business. Not at all.”

She paused. Just talking was making her feel better. She needed to get all of that off of her mind and especially her chest.

”It just feels weird when people confess their feelings. It’s always awkward and makes me feel bad. As I just said, I am not responsible for the person’s feelings, but I still feel bad, even though I definitely should not. I guess I just deal weirdly with love. It’s not that I don’t feel love, I just… Never really experienced it. Neither with foster families nor in the very short relationships I had. People always expect so much from love. Love is supposed to make you happy, not feel responsible. Love should be beautiful. Love is… family.”

It was quiet in the car for a few moments. Andrew kept driving and driving and driving and driving and driving and–

”Why would I care?”

Not exactly what Alice had expected, but then again, this was Andrew. ”You took me on a ride so I could calm down,” she responded after thinking about it for a second.

”Why do you care what others think? What that boy feels?”

Alice opened her mouth, but she didn’t have a response for that. She did not know why she cared. But she wanted to know why Andrew did not care. And she wanted to know so much more.

”Can I ask you a question?”

”No”

”What happened last year?”

”A lot.”

Alice rolled her eyes at that response, but didn’t give up. ”Tell me. I want to understand.”

”It’s more than you could understand,” Andrew said, his eyes on the road.

”I have time.”

”Ask somebody else.”

”Why?”

”Because it’s not my job to fill you in on the things you missed,” Andrew responded, sounding more bored than before. Alice could tell, this was acted.

”If you want me to be a part of this group, I need to understand its defects,” Alice said, shrugging, acting like she didn’t really care.

She can tell that Andrew is fighting with himself. When he finally opens his mouth, Alice is proud that she managed to get him to tell her something.

”I was on medication until last winter, because I beat up some guys who attacked Nicky. I hated my drugs, but getting off of them was pure horror. Withdrawal is not exactly a walk through a field of flowers. There was an encounter with my old foster brother. Afterwards, Bee ordered that they should take me off my meds. I’m sure you’ve heard of my foster brother. Name’s Drake.”

Alice nodded, even though he was not looking at her. Drake Spear got killed by Aaron with a racquet last year in the house of the Hemmicks.

”When I was younger, Drake used to have a lot of fun with me. I didn’t. In the clinic, there was a doctor who seemed to have a certain kind of interest in me. But then I got out of the clinic again and I was finally off my drugs. And now you have found your way into my life.”

Andrew didn’t seem like he wanted to continue talking. Alice was surprised, this was probably the most she heard him talk ever. Conversations with Andrew usually were very one-sided and Alice had not really expected Andrew to share so much with her.

”What about Neil? What happened last year with Neil and the Moriyamas?” Alice wanted to know. Andrew’s story had been so short and so Andrew-centered. It’s not like she didn’t want to know things about her brother, but she wanted last year’s story and that involved Neil.

”Ask him,” Andrew said dryly, ”That’s not my story to tell.”

Alice didn’t know what to answer, because he was totally right, so she just leaned back and took a deep breath. Felicity fulfilled her. Before today she never really had the feeling that Andrew cared about her, that he wanted her to be an active part in his life. Sure, he tolerated her, he accepted her, he took her into their group, but that didn’t mean he saw her as family. Suddenly she had the feeling, Andrew now was a little bit more her brother than before and she was a little bit more his sister.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Andrew was almost... soft. I try to hard not to write him OOC but Andrew is so complex and complicated and unique and it's just hard to really grasp him. 
> 
> Please leave some comments and Kudos if you liked this chapter!


	8. Neon Brother

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Bonding with one of the Twinyards.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Well. I am back, I've been on vacation and forgot my notes for this fic, so I didn't write anything. I also have the feeling that I kind of forgot how to write Alice, so this chapter feels a little stiff, but I hope you guys still like it!
> 
> WARNING: References to past abuse in this chapter

All three phones went off at the same time and all three girls looked up in synchronicity.

”Group chat,” Issie assumed.

Alice looked up from her papers to check her phone. Issie had been correct. Dan had sent a message to the Foxes’ group chat. Before Alice could read it, Sheena read it out loud.

”Seven thirty pm, movie night in the senior girls’ dorm. Nobody is excused unless they’re currently dying or being kidnapped,” Sheena read, her voice already sounding annoyed, ”What is this crap? Movie night? Seriously? How old are they, twelve? What kind of shitty team bonding is that?”

Issie shot Alice a quick glance and Alice knew what Issie was thinking. Things were a lot less complicated when Sheena just stayed out of the dorm, or just didn’t say anything, but unfortunately she sometimes was not able to shut up.

”Seriously what is Dan’s issue? How come she’s so keen on team bonding and harmony? With this team? Why does she even bother?”

”Oh my fucking God, Sheena,” Issie interrupted Sheena’s on going rant, ”Just don’t come, nobody will miss you. Nobody will even notice you’re gone.”

A small chuckle escaped Alice’s lips. She didn’t exactly regret it, but Sheena looked at her like she thought about smashing her head in with an axe.

”Fuck off, Issie,” Sheena simply said.

Issie stood up. At first, Alice thought she would go over to Sheena and slap her, but instead, Issie went into the kitchen and poured herself some tea, which Alice had made earlier. ”It’s just the truth,” she said, ”Right Alice?”

Immediately, Alice wished Issie hadn’t brought up her name. Sheena’s hate for Alice only seemed to grow day by day and ever since Sheena walked in on the two girls, things have become a lot worse, for both of them. Instead of just minding her own business, Sheena now made it clear how much she hated being roommates with Alice and Issie.

”Oh yeah, get some help from your girlfriend,” Sheena shot back with obvious disgust in her voice.  
Alice sighed. ”I’m not her girlfriend,” she said, annoyed.

”Whatever, it’s disgusting anyways,” Sheena grumbled.

Everything about her behavior made Alice angry. She knew, that it was only Sheena who was spreading negative energy as usual, but her comments went straight into Alice’s gut and from there straight into her blood, which was boiling by now. Alice got up, very quickly and went straight to where Sheena was sitting, so ready to finally fight with this girl. Before Alice could throw a fist into Sheena’s face, Issie grabbed her shoulder, staring intensely at Alice with her blue eyes, her fingers digging into Alice’s flesh, stopping her from starting a physical fight with Sheena.

”It’s not worth it, alright? She’s not worth your anger.”

Issie’s blue eyes worked like ice cold water, Alice calmed down immediately. Even though there were no romantic feelings in between the two of them, Alice had started to trust and like Issie. Besides her family, Issie appeared like the first person amongst who could actually mean something to Alice.

”You’re a homophobic bitch,” Alice hissed at Sheena, before pushing Issie out of her way and storming out of the room.

She knew her overly dramatic behavior would probably guarantee her the status of a drama queen, but Alice could not care less. She immediately found her way to Andrew’s room, storming in without knocking. Kevin was sitting on a beanbag, history books laying on the floor next to him, one of them laying in his lap. His hair was ruffled and Alice was extremely surprised to find him working on something that was not Exy related.

”Andrew’s not here,” he said, ”Probably on the roof with Neil.”

Alice couldn’t help but feel disappointed. She knew that it was not Andrew’s responsibility to be there whenever she was annoyed and needed to calm down, but in this particular moment it just annoyed her even more.

”Can I help you somehow?” Kevin asked.

Alice just quickly shook her head and left the room again. Maybe she could just get out of the tower, get some fresh air and calm down, before returning to her dorm to continue studying. Maybe she could do that. She didn’t look where she was going when she, once again, stormed through the hallway. The dull sound when Alice ran into another person was as unexpected as the sharp pain in Alice’s shoulder.

”Oh fuck, watch where you’re–”

The person Alice had run into was also unexpected.

”Um fuck, sorry Aaron. I wasn’t looking,” she quickly apologized.

Her brother’s glare softened immediately. Alice doubted, one of the Foxes had ever seen this expression on him. ”Everything alright?”

Alice shrugged. ”Had a fight with Sheena, nothing serious, but still a way to ruin a day.”

For a moment it was silent. It was obvious, that Aaron didn’t quite know how to approach Alice and she didn’t know what to expect from him. So far, she had spent more time with Andrew and she knew how he acted around her. Aaron though, Aaron still wasn’t really used to having Alice around and Alice wasn’t used to having Aaron around.

”So, you wanna go to have some coffee or something? To get away from the Tower for a while? Before movie night?” Aaron finally asked.

A wave of unexpected joy rushed through Alice, almost covering all the negative feelings. ”Um, yeah, sure why not? You got a favorite café somewhere near here?”

”There’s one a few minutes away, Katelyn and I usually go to. It’s alright,” Aaron offered.

”Alright,” Alice said and smiled, ”Let’s go there.”

The awkward quietness between Aaron and Alice disappeared when they arrived at the café. Aaron ordered peppermint tea and Alice some black coffee.

”So what exactly is up with movie night?” Alice asked, as soon as the waitress was gone. She had an unpleasant feeling, almost like someone was watching her, but she could not figure out who it was. Alice decided, that maybe she was just being paranoid and concentrated on her brother instead.  
”Dan is trying to get the team to bond,” Aaron answered, his voice made it clear, that he had a similar opinion of that as Sheena.

”Does that happen often?”

The Foxes were a broken team, but it was unmistakable, that the older Foxes had an extremely close bond. Maybe Dan was trying to include the freshmen with team bonding, but Alice doubted, it would work out.

”It increases,” Aaron answered dryly, ”I usually try to avoid it.”

”Why?”

”Team bonding exhausts me,” he said in the most serious tone.

Alice looked at her brother for a moment, at the bags under his eyes, the freckles which were already beginning to fade. She knew that she had freckles as well, but she had never spotted any on Andrew’s face.

”You don’t really like them, huh?” she asked very carefully.

Aaron thinks about it for a while, before answering. ”I put up with them. The upperclassmen are okay, but annoying.”

”And the rest?” Alice inquired.

”The freshmen?”

Alice smiled a little. ”No, they are obviously annoying. I mean Kevin and Neil,” she added, then paused, ”And Nicky and Andrew.”

”Kevin and Neil are both dicks, but mostly tolerable. They only focus on Exy anyways,” Aaron answered. He did obviously try to avoid talking about Nicky and Andrew, but that’s exactly what Alice wanted to talk about. She wanted to know Aaron’s point of view on the difficult relationship of the cousins.

”What about Nicky? And what about Andrew?” she insisted.

Aaron sighed and hesitated to answer. It was not an easy topic, Alice knew that, but so far everything Alice and Aaron have talked about was not at all difficult. She had the feeling like she had barely grasped a detail of Aaron’s character so far and really wanted to get to know his view of the world, because she felt like she was slowly getting to understand Andrew and Nicky was an open book, but Aaron? He was still a mystery.

”Nicky can be a real pain in the ass, but he has given up everything for Andrew and me,” he starts softly, ”He really cares. And Andrew… Andrew is difficult. God, sometimes I hate Andrew so much. But he is my brother and I think with the help of Dobson I am slowly getting to understand him better. It’s a really difficult situation.”

Alice smiled at Aaron, glad he decided to share his thoughts with her. Surprisingly, Aaron smiled back. It was a tiny, very shy smile, but it was something to start with.

”Well, family is complicated, I guess,” he mumbled.

”I wouldn’t know,” Alice answered with mixed feelings, before she could stop herself.

Aaron looked like he had been punched in the face. He quickly stammered apologies, but then stopped himself. ”But you have a family now,” he said, very quietly and very softly.

Alice’s insides warmed up immediately. Suddenly, she didn’t know how to react, feeling completely overwhelmed by this reaction, so she just nodded and smiled.

The waitress came back and interrupted the moment, brought them their drinks. When she was gone, Aaron cleared his throat. ”I know that it’s a difficult topic, but would you mind answering a few questions about your time in foster care? Andrew never talks about it, at least not to me, and I don’t have the feeling that I know enough about it to understand what you two have been through,” Aaron paused for a moment, trying to form a good sentence, ”I mean I know about Drake, obviously, but I don’t know anything about what you experienced. If your not comfortable talking about it, I can totally understand that.”

It took Alice a moment to form an answer. ”No it’s, it’s okay. What do you want to know about it?”  
Aaron shrugged. ”What is it like growing up in the system? Did you change your families often?”  
For a few seconds Alice stared into her coffee, which seemed even darker than her usual black coffee. The smell reminded her of her first day at PSU, where Issie had made her some coffee in the morning.

”I’ve been in ten foster homes in total, I changed them quite often as a very small child because there were loads of families who wanted to adopt a young child, but they always either found a younger child, or managed to get pregnant, so they didn’t need me anymore. As a teen, I stayed in families for a maximum of two years, never longer. Most of the time their licenses ran out. Some of the homes were abusive, some were not.”

It really made Alice happy, that Aaron seemed genuinely interested and seemed like he was truly listening to her. ”Abusive?”

”Yeah, I mean you know what Drake did to Andrew,” Alice said carefully, ”Two of my foster fathers and one mother took a… special interest in me. I tried to remain as boyish as I could, because I thought the abuse would stop if I looked like a boy.”

The way Aaron looked at Alice made her feel like he understood. There were reasons for Alice being underweight.

”But there were good foster families as well, right? Not all of them were that bad?” he asked.  
Alice quickly nodded. ”Yes, definitely. There were many foster families which were great and kind, but they never managed to keep me due to different reasons.”

Aaron took a sip from his tea and thought about what Alice had just said for a moment. ”Now you’re here,” he said, like he wanted to say that she had now finally arrived in the home where she was supposed to be. He made it seem like she had finally arrived in the family where she belonged. Alice really liked that.

”Now I’m here,” Alice agreed.

They exchanged a quick smile before both quickly taking a sip from their respective drinks. 

”So,” Alice started, ”Now to some lighter topics. How did you and Katelyn meet?”

Aaron’s whole expression immediately changed, when Alice brought up Katelyn. She knew, that this was probably one of Aaron’s favorite topics, especially considering they had such a difficult start. Nicky had filled Alice in on what had happened with Katelyn, Aaron and Andrew before she came, but Alice also knew that Aaron did not really have anybody to talk with about Katelyn, since he didn’t think that Nicky would take him seriously.

Aaron started talking about how he had always found Katelyn attractive and that she was trying to flirt, but he declined her because of Andrew. With her being a cheerleader, they had always seen each other during matches, but they also had a lot of classes together, not to forget they were both majoring in biochemistry. He continued, telling Alice how they always kept their relationship a secret and how they finally got to have an open relationship after Andrew allowed it.

Alice was really glad to see the way Aaron’s eyes started shining when he talked about Katelyn, how his complete body language changed, even the sound of his voice. Everything about him suddenly was soft and full of joy and Alice couldn’t help but feel thankful for Aaron finding someone like Katelyn, who managed to turn this grumpy boy into such a happy person.

”By the way, are you planning to stick to biochemistry after college?” Alice asked Aaron, after he finished talking.

He shrugged. ”Katelyn and I both want to try to get into med school,” he stated, ”I really do want to become a doctor.”

”Oh, that’s amazing!” Alice exclaimed, ”I’m sure you’ll get into it.”

Aaron let out a sound, which could be either a laugh or a sigh. ”Yeah, tell that to my sleep schedule. Oh wait, I don’t have one.”

Alice chuckled, eyeing up the dark bags under his eyes. ”Sounds fun.”

”Oh totally,” Aaron yawned, ”So anyways, do you already have ideas what you want to do after college?”

”Well,” Alice started slowly, ”My major is educational science, so I guess I want to do something kind of in that direction? I really want to work with children, eventually even in the system, but I’m not sure yet.”

The two of them ended up talking more about the future, exchanging ideas for traveling, for where to live, what dogs to adopt and whether they want to have children or not. Alice really wanted to ask Aaron about his upcoming trial, but she knew that bringing that up would totally ruin the mood and Aaron seemed to relaxed and happy and Alice didn’t want him to tense up again.

Over her brother’s shoulder, Alice spotted a man who looked really familiar, but she couldn’t exactly place him, until she realized that he kind of looked like her last foster father, Christian Haynes. Alice immediately went completely tense, but it couldn’t be him, he lived in Seattle, that wasn’t him. There was no chance, this man was Christian. Instead of focusing on him, she focused on Aaron, on his voice and she managed to relax a little.

Aaron and Alice went back to the Fox Tower together and Alice felt incredibly happy that she finally got to bond with Aaron as well, that she became closer with him.

When they arrived at the senior girls’ dorm, the movie had already been chosen by Matt and Hector and they were watching some horror movie. Alice ended up snuggled in between Aaron and Allison, who had Renee on her lap, on the couch. Renee claimed there was not enough space for everybody, but everybody knew, the girls just wanted to cuddle.

During the movie, Alice could feel Farid’s eyes on her, but she chose to ignore him and focus on the screen.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Please leave some comments and Kudos on this chapter if you liked it! Some Alice and Aaron bonding, well. What can I say, lately I've just been loving Aaron and I want to see him happy.


	9. Time To Dance

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> It's time for the fall banquet.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> WARNING: This chapter includes references to eating disorders and alcohol addiction.

Allison put on some music as soon as they sat down in her car. The music was blasting and Alice could feel the vibration of the bass under her skin. She exchanged a quick look with Neil, who didn’t seem too happy about the loud music as well, but Nicky on the front seat started singing along to the music immediately.

Allison and Nicky had decided they needed to take Neil and Alice shopping for the fall banquet. Nicky argued that Neil still didn’t have enough decent clothes and after a quick look into Alice’s wardrobe, Allison and Nicky had unanimously decided they needed to take her shopping for a dress for the upcoming fall banquet.

As soon as they arrived at a shop they all liked, Allison directly took Alice with her to the dress section. Alice didn’t even get a chance to actually look at dresses, because Allison just stuffed some into her arms and said: ”Try these.” Her tone didn’t give any space to argue.

”Don’t you need to look for some dresses for yourself?” Alice wondered.

Allison gave her a fierce smile. ”Oh hell no. I’ve been planning my outfit for the fall banquet since the last one. I obviously already have a dress,” she bragged.

”Obviously,” Alice murmured.

”Exactly. Now try on these dresses,” Allison demanded and shoved Alice in the direction of the dressing rooms. She felt nervous, because exposing her body to others had always been difficult for her. Alice avoided clothes that were too tight or too revealing. She knew, that the girls saw her body every day in the dressing room, but she always tried to change as quickly as she could and she wasn’t presenting her body in any way. Trying on dresses and showing them off to Allison made Alice feel extremely anxious.

Alice almost drowned in all the velvet and silk and lace. The dresses Allison gave her were everything from sexy to almost prude, some in the wildest colors, others were completely black. She had never though that simply trying on dresses could be that exhausting, but when Allison came to ask how it was going, Alice felt like she just had done a workout.

”And?” Allison asked, once Alice was dressed normally again, ”Anything you liked?”

Alice shrugged, not feeling sure about the whole dress situation. ”There was a blue one that was okay.”

”Show me!” Allison encouraged her, sensing Alice being uncomfortable. Alice sighed, barely noticeable, but got back into the dressing room without hesitating and took the blue dress with her to change.

Looking at the mirror, Alice felt even worse about herself. The dress was amazing, ice-blue, off-shoulder, the fabric softly falling down on her body to right above her knees, looking like a waterfall, flowing around Alice’s legs. It really complimented her bright skin and hair plus Alice had always liked blue on her. The negative aspects were that one could totally see her collarbones sticking out, her bony shoulders and thin arms, not to mention her legs which looked like skin and bones only. The dress looked beautiful, but she did not. After looking at herself for a few moments, Alice finally surrendered and showed herself to Allison.

”Oh my God,” she piped, with a big smile on her face, ”Alice, this dress looks amazing on you!”

The enthusiastic response of Allison did not necessarily make Alice feel better about herself. She felt incredibly uncomfortable with the other girl looking at her so intensely. Unsuccessful, she tried covering up herself with her arms and of course, Allison noticed.

”You not comfortable in it?” she asked.

Alice quietly sighed. ”I feel… Extremely lean,” she confessed, avoiding Allison’s eyes.

She could tell that Allison was looking at her for a moment, before turning on her heels. ”Wait a second,” she said, before leaving Alice alone.

Only a few minutes later, she returned, dragging Nicky and Neil with her. ”Gentlemen,” she started, ”Look at Alice. Doesn’t she look just wonderful in that dress?”

”Definitely,” Nicky answered immediately, ”This dress suits you so well, Alice, you look like an ice angel.”

Neil nodded, agreeing. ”It looks good,” he commented.

Alice could feel her insides slowly warming up. Of course, the negative feelings didn’t go away, but they slowly reduced. She desperately wanted to trust their words, wanted to look at herself and feel beautiful, but she didn’t. Maybe one day, the way they saw her would become the way she saw herself. For now, them thinking she was beautiful had to be enough.

”Alright,” she quietly agreed.

Allison clapped her hands. ”Amazing! Take it off, so I can take it to the cashier and you can get ready whilst I do that. Boys, are you ready?”

They nodded.

”Um, Allison, should I give you my wallet so you can pay for it?” Alice asked gingerly.

Allison looked at her like she was a ghost. ”Didn’t I tell you before? I pay for it.”

Alice opened her mouth to protest, but Allison did not give her the chance to do it.

”See it as a belated welcome gift. You’re welcome,” she smiled, her smile seeming genuine and softer than everything Alice had ever seen from Allison before. She feared that Allison felt sorry for her.

”Thank you,” Alice whispered and quickly disappeared into the dressing room.

On their way back, the four talked about the upcoming fall banquet and their dates.

”I’m obviously taking Renee,” Allison stated, ”I mean, who else should I take? This is going to be our first banquet as actual girlfriends and now that the monster–”

”Andrew,” Neil and Alice corrected her in unison.

”Andrew,” Allison said, ”Is not taking her anymore, obviously, she’s officially going with me.”

”This is going to be the gayest banquet ever,” Nicky laughed, ”I’m taking Trevor, he’s the newest member of the Vixens and totally hot stuff.”

”I don’t have a date,” Neil said, but as soon as he said it, Nicky and Allison rolled their eyes.

”Neil, honey, Andrew is your date,” Allison pointed out and Alice silently agreed with her.

Neil didn’t argue this, but he didn’t confirm it either, but the way how his expression softened a bit gave away that he probably agreed with them.

”What about you Alice?” Nicky asked and turned around on the front seat to look at her, ”Who are you taking?”

Alice sighed, she had hoped that the others would just forget about her and not ask her about her non existent date. ”I don’t have a date, nobody has asked me yet.”

”Um, okay,” Allison recorded, seeming a little bit confused, ”Why don’t you just ask somebody?”

Nicky agreed with her and Alice didn’t really have a good response for that. Allison was right. Why didn’t she just ask somebody?

The others continued talking about other things, but Alice’s mind stuck to her date problem. Who could she ask? She knew that, technically, nobody cared if you showed up with a date at a banquet or not. This was not a stupid high school prom or anything like that, where it would be a total disaster not to have a date. But after that talk, it would be stupid not to follow Allison’s suggestion and just ask somebody. It would be nice to have a date, Alice thought.

The first person that came to her mind was Issie, but asking her to be her date would probably only cause more gossip and Alice didn’t have the nerve to deal with more stupidness of her teammates.  
The second person who came to her mind was Kevin, because she was sure he didn’t already have a date and because they were now getting along much better, but he would probably say no anyways and Alice didn’t really want people to think she had a crush or whatever on her.

The last person Alice thought about asking was Farid. He had always been nice to her and she knew he would probably say yes. Besides, she had the feeling anyways that she needed to fix things between them a little bit, considering their last actual talk did not end that well. She knew, Farid would be happy if she asked him and spreading a little bit of happiness didn’t seem the wrong thing to do, at least not to Alice.

After arriving at Fox Tower, Alice immediately headed to the freshman boys’ dorm, after dropping her dress in her own dorm. She knocked, suddenly feeling a bit nervous. She usually didn’t spend time with the freshmen, especially not with Issie and she just realized that she never actually had been in the boys’ dorm room before.

Hector opened the door with a wide grin. ”Alice, what a surprise. Come in.”

Still unsure what to think of Hector -he mostly was okay, but sometimes behaved like a real douchebag- Alice followed him into the dorm. Their living room was mostly empty, a black couch stood in the middle of it, in front of a huge television and there were a few posters hanging on the walls, but nothing much more. There was only one table and judging by all the textbooks and papers lying on the ground, the boys did most of their studying while sitting on the ground. Jack and Magnus were sitting on the couch, busy with some video game. It was no surprise, that Jack ignored Alice, while Magnus greeted her with a small nod. Farid was nowhere to be seen in the room.

”What can we do for you?” Hector asked, after shutting the door.

Alice turned around to face the boy. ”I was actually looking for Farid,” she explained, ”He’s not here?”  
Hector shook his head, the wide grin never leaving his face. Alice wondered, how Hector ended up here with the Foxes and how he could still keep such a huge grin, but then she knew barely anything about the freshmen. She didn’t even know much about the upperclassmen, due to her practically living in Andrew’s dorm.

”Unfortunately not,” Hector said with this certain tone, probably knowing exactly where Farid was. It felt like he was mocking her. Of course, the boys knew about Farid’s crush on Alice and now Hector behaved like they were in middle school.

Alice rolled her eyes. ”Do you know where he is? Or when he’ll return?”

Hector shrugged and then shook his head again, in the same moment as the door opened and a sweaty, red-faced Farid in jogging pants entered the room.

”Well, there he is,” Hector pointed out.

”Yeah, I can see that,” Alice retorted sharply, before turning to Farid.

The poor boy seemed confused and a little bit overwhelmed. He had clearly not expected Alice to be in the room and quickly brushed a few strands of his dark hair out of his face. ”What’s going on guys?”

Alice tried to smile. ”Can we talk?” she asked and gestured to Hector, ”Without an audience?”

”Sure,” Farid said, a tiny bit too quick.

”Oh là là,” Hector piped and raised his eyebrows, ”No sex on my bed, alright?”

”Fuck off, Hec,” Farid said and immediately blushed, took Alice’s hand and lead her to the boys’ bedroom, so they could talk.

Most of the beds were a mess and Alice wanted to know, which one belonged to Farid, but she didn’t dare to ask. His dark eyes looked at her worryingly, like he expected her to bring bad news or wanted to fight again.

”What is it?” he asked carefully.

”So, you know the fall banquet’s coming up,” Alice started, not wanting to look into Farid’s eyes because it made her uncomfortable, but also unable to look away.

He nodded.

”It’s actually kind of stupid because it’s not like it’s a big thing like prom or whatever,” she babbled, not really knowing where to go. After a deep breath, she finally had everything together. ”Basically I wanted to know if you’d like to be my date. For the fall banquet.”

Farid stared at her with a blank expression after she had finished, like he didn’t know how to react. A few seconds later, the most beautiful smile appeared on his face. ”Yes of course!” he exclaimed, ”I’d love to be your date!”

”As friends, Farid. Keep that in mind,” Alice carefully added.

”Friends is amazing,” Farid answered, overly enthusiastic, ”Friends is wonderful.”

”Good.”

”Great.”

”Yeah.”

For a few seconds they just looked at each other. Alice felt relieved and she knew it was the right thing to do. Seeing Farid’s whole face light up really did feel good and she wouldn’t mind seeing that smile more often.

”You wanna go and grab dinner with us?” he interrupted her thoughts, ”Issie, Magnus, Hec and I wanted to go out for dinner. Care to join?”

He looked so happy that Alice just couldn’t say no. ”Sure, why not?” she responded and watched the smile on Farid’s face grow even bigger.

”Great! I’ll just take a quick shower and then we’re ready to go. We will pick you up at your dorm, alright?”

”Yeah, alright. Sounds good,” Alice agreed, before leaving Farid alone so he could shower and returning to her own dorm, ignoring Hector’s comments on her way out.

Dinner with the other freshmen was surprisingly fun, but at some point an unpleasant feeling creeped up on Alice’s spine, a feeling similar to the one she had when she went for a coffee with Aaron. Like somebody was watching her. Alice decided, she was just being paranoid and chose to ignore it, once again, but the feeling didn’t completely go away.

The drive felt like ages, but in a good way. Alice had decided to sit next to Farid and they were talking about any topic that came to their minds, but just not their pasts. Alice already knew about Farid’s and she knew that it was a difficult topic for him and Farid probably knew better than to mention Alice’s past. Farid also didn’t ask her questions about her brothers and it was delightful to have a conversation which didn’t revolve around Alice’s difficult new situation and her allegedly psychotic brothers. They talked so much that Alice didn’t even get a chance to look out of her window to look at her environment. After only seeing Seattle for years and years, Alice always wanted to see new things. This time though, she didn’t mind missing that opportunity at all.

Katelyn and Aaron sat behind the two, quietly talking and Renee and Allison sat in front of them, Renee napping with her head on Allison’s shoulder. Alice didn’t exactly know where Nicky was, but she heard him talking excitedly about his new rainbow bow tie, Erik had sent him, which he was going to wear at the banquet.

Despite her enjoying herself, Alice could feel the tension in the bus like little drops of poison on everybody’s skin. She knew that Neil and Kevin were not exactly looking forward to that banquet and to seeing the Ravens again. Riko was dead and Tetsuji wasn’t the coach anymore, but they still were the Ravens. It was going to be a hard night for them, especially for Kevin and Alice doubted he would make it without drinking himself mindless, which she didn’t approve of.

During her time in foster care, Alice used to drink more than she could bear, fighting her eating disorder and pouring alcohol down her throat hadn’t exactly been the best thing to do. She managed to handle it eventually after seeing one of her friends in high school almost die because of alcohol poisoning, forcing her own hands off of any bottle of alcohol that fell into her hands. It had been a hard process, but Alice managed to get rid at least this one problem all by herself.

Once the Foxes arrived and got out of the bus, Alice noticed that Kevin looked like he was about to throw up, his face pale, his hands clutched into fists. Before anybody could approach him, Wymack walked towards Kevin, quietly talking to him and gently patting his shoulder. Afterwards, Kevin looked a little bit better, but one could still tell he was feeling extremely bad.

After entering, they immediately spotted the Ravens. Every single one of them had their eyes on the arriving Foxes and Alice immediately felt threatened by their glances alone. It must’ve been hell to face them on the court, especially with Riko still with them. They were all dressed in black, obviously and appeared ready to snap the neck of everybody who dared to bother them. Alice wouldn’t mind slapping their arrogant expressions out of their faces, but she doubted she’d survive something like this. Despite, Wymack had threatened to bench everybody who dared to start a fight (he said it mostly to Neil, but Alice didn’t dare to challenge him).

”Now look at them,” Nicky quietly said, right next to Alice’s ear, ”They look all intimidating and stuff, right? Compared to last year, they almost look like humans.”

Alice turned around to look at Nicky, but he just smirked and said nothing more.

The banquet proceeded without any incidents, the Foxes talked politely to the other teams, avoiding the Ravens and every time they were asked about Riko, they said that they felt sorry for his family, but didn’t want to comment further on that topic. The other teams treated them with respect and especially the older Foxes seemed surprised about that. They were champions now and no longer the disgrace of NCAA Class I Exy. They deserved to be treated with respect. And once the dance floor was opened, Katelyn dragged Alice with her and Aaron to dance. For a while, Alice danced with Katelyn and Aaron, then with Nicky and his date Trevor, then with all of them, but at some point, Issie and Farid grabbed Alice’s arms, both grinning mischievously.

”Now it’s our turn,” Issie announced.

Dancing with Issie and Farid was fun and Alice wondered, why she hadn’t danced with them before. She laughed more than she could have ever imagined. Issie turned out to be an amazing dancer, which didn’t really surprise Alice, but Farid was a pretty decent dancer as well. The other freshmen were looking at them, maybe even judging them, wondering why their friends, Issie and Farid, suddenly danced with a Minyard. Much to Alice’ surprise, they did not only dance, but also talk, at least as good as possible with the loud music playing.

”Oh my God,” Issie laughed, ”Alice, I know I already told you, but you look so gorgeous today!”

Alice could feel herself blushing and hoped Issie and Farid didn’t see it.

”Doesn’t she just look beautiful?”

Farid quickly nodded. ”You look amazing!” he said to Alice.

”Such a beautiful roommate,” Issie continued and laughed again, ”Watch out, I might steal her from you.”

”She’s still my date,” Farid said and rolled his eyes.

”Not for very much longer,” Issie grinned and dragged Alice closer to her.

Alice laughed, but quickly freed herself. The two of them bickering was adorable, but it was slowly getting on her nerves, so she quickly tried to change the subject. ”What do you guys think of the other teams so far?”

Issie shot her a quick look. ”You mean the Ravens?”

”For example.”

”Honestly?” Farid began, ”I can’t wait to face them on the court and to kick their asses.”

The girls laughed. Farid usually never talked like that.

”No really,” he said, ”Their whole attitude is just embarrassing and I don’t think it’s okay that Kevin is still so afraid of them. The older Foxes already showed them that they aren’t the best and I plan to continue showing it to them.”

Issie looked confused. ”Since when are you Kevin Day Fan number one?”

”I’m not,” Farid clarified, ”He’s a bossy dick. But nobody should be as paralyzed as he is today just because of your old teammates.”

Alice smiled at him. She liked the way he thought and the way he spoke. She liked, that even with Kevin always criticizing him and screaming at him, he was able to think rationally about him. His emotions didn’t overshadow his rational thoughts.

”That’s true,” Issie said contemplatively. 

For a moment, all three of them were quiet. But then the song changed and Issie threw her arms into the air, shouting ”This is my favourite song!” and their talk seemed to be forgotten.

At some point she ended up slow dancing with Farid, his arms around her waist, her cheek pressed against his chest. She could hear his heartbeat, pounding faster than it should and Alice just smiled, hoping Farid wouldn’t see it. She met Issie’s eyes and Issie smiled at her, but her smile wasn’t as bright as it used to be, or maybe Alice was just imagining things.

Alice enjoyed her time in Farid’s arms, they felt strong and sturdy, holding her tight. His arms gave her a feeling of safety and maybe, she thought, maybe maybe maybe it wouldn’t be a bad thing to remain in his arms for a little longer. But then the song was over and Alice felt Issie grabbing her hand, dragging her close to Issie, her smile as bright as ever.

Farid joined them and then it was the three of them together again, but Alice noticed how Issie never let go of her hand and how Farid never took his eyes off of Alice.

”I need a quick pause,” she shouted after some time, hoping her voice would be louder than the music, before leaving the two of them alone on the dance floor.

Andrew, Neil and Kevin were not hard to find, sitting at a table together in silence. Kevin was staring into the nothing, a glass in his right hand, his left hand lying on the table and Kevin was repetitively clenching and unclenching it. Andrew and Neil just stared at everybody who dared looking into the direction of the three but Alice couldn’t help but notice that Andrew’s hand was lying on Neil’s thigh like it was glued to it.

Alice sat down on a seat next to Kevin, quietly greeting him. He didn’t even look up and Alice guessed he was at his seventh or eighth drink by now. It hurt her heart to see him like this, eyes glassy, face without any emotion. He was drinking merely to survive this banquet and Alice couldn’t stand it.

”Shouldn’t you get like, healthier coping mechanisms or anything?” Alice asked carefully, as Kevin rose his glass to his lips again.

He took a big sip. ”Slowly working on it,” he mumbled.

”Very slowly, right?” Alice shot back.

”A sloth would be faster,” Andrew deadpanned.

Alice let out a surprised chuckle. She hadn’t expected Andrew to join the conversation, especially not with a joke. As she looked into Kevin’s face, now looking pissed, Alice’s chuckle quickly died. This was a serious situation.

”For real,” Alice started again, ”You care so much about your health and then you drink so much? You’re an athlete. Shouldn’t you know better?”

Kevin looked at her for a moment, but didn’t answer, he just rose his glass again. With a sigh, Alice grabbed it and slammed it on the table. His expression was angry and for a second, Alice was sure he was going to punch her. Instead of saying anything, Alice just returned his look, quickly got up and went to look for Issie and Farid, but Nicky found her first and dragged her back with him to the dance floor and Alice drowned in the loud music, the colors and the people.

On their way back, Alice sat next to Farid again, but this time Issie sat in front of them, next to Hector. Farid just talked and talked about the banquet, but Alice was too tired to actually hold up a proper conversation. Over the seat, she met Issie’s look and the girls exchanged a tired smile. After a while, Alice fell asleep on Farid’s shoulder.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I hope you guys liked this chapter and if you did leave some comments and Kudos! I'm sorry for barely and Twinyard content in this chapter, but I had to focus on the other Foxes a bit and I just couldn't resist and write about Kevin. It's time someone takes care of him. But I promise, the next chapter will be full of Twinyard content and family bonding!


	10. Trials

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Aaron's trial.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I know that Nora placed the trial somewhere in summer, but for reasons I post-poned it so it is now placed in early fall, so it would make sense with Alice. I also don't know anything about trials and law, so yeah. Have fun with it.  
> WARNINGS: The Drake incident is mentioned.

A joyful song was played on the radio. It didn’t quite match the ongoing situation or the mixed feelings inside of Alice. Andrew was driving, obviously, and Nicky rode shotgun. Aaron sat next to Alice in the back, his whole body tense, looking out of the window, but his empty glare made it obvious, that he did not see anything that they were driving past.

It was kind of ironic. Besides their very first meeting, this was the first time, the family was together in one space without anybody else there. The reason for it wasn’t necessarily a good one though. It was time for Aaron’s final trial, they were on their way to the court. It was a closed trial, meaning only close family and witnesses were allowed, no press, no curious people in the actual courtroom. Alice did not hesitate for a second when Aaron asked her whether she would like to come with them. Of course she was going to support her family. Andrew and Nicky had to be there so they could function as witnesses, because they had been there when the incident happened.

Last night, Alice had stayed awake with Nicky until the early morning hours, he had been telling her what exactly had happened. It was a horrible story, but Alice knew that her brother was not the bad guy in this. He had simply protected Andrew. Alice would have done the same thing.

The tension in the car was so present, Alice could almost see it. Nobody had said anything so far, not even Nicky. They were all sitting there in their fancy clothes, ready for the court, their expressions as cold as stone. Aaron was even wearing his best suit, probably also the only one he possessed, and even Andrew bothered to wear a neat shirt, it was obviously black.

Alice was playing nervously with her phone. She had promised Katelyn to keep her updated, since both girls knew, Aaron would be way too nervous to even touch his phone. ”We’re almost at the court,” Alice texted Katelyn.

”Good luck. Don’t forget to text me immediately when the trial is over, no matter what the convict is,” was Katelyn’s immediate response. The poor girl was probably sitting in her dorm alone, staring at her phone, hoping that somehow everything would turn out fine. Alice knew that the other Foxes were spending their time together during their absence. Wymack had cancelled practice for the day, knowing that nobody would be able to concentrate.

The closer they came to the court, the more nervous became Aaron. He tried to hide it, but Alice could tell that he was not okay. Carefully she reached over and took his hand to make him look at her. As he raised his glance, she tried to smile and softly squeezed his hand. Aaron’s expression did not change, but he squeezed back.

Aaron’s lawyer was waiting for them in front of the building, his expression cold, but determined. Alice hoped, he would be exactly the person they needed to fight for Aaron. They quickly greeted him and there were some reporters from smaller Exy magazines taking photos, which surprised Alice. The trial hadn’t been very public and it was a closed trial anyways, but maybe they couldn’t get close to the players that were Pro, so they focused on college Exy scandals. Besides, the Foxes were a team that has always been very public, not necessarily in a good way. Reporters desperately tried getting close to this broken team. Teenagers with tragic background stories had always been popular with the press and tragic backstories paired with potential future sports stars were just perfect.

Aaron, his lawyer and Nicky went inside, but Alice and Andrew stayed outside so Andrew could have a smoke. The two just stood next to each other, saying nothing, while Andrew kept on blowing smoke out of his mouth. Alice sometimes wondered, how and why Andrew got into smoking. Or just in general, how people got into smoking. She knew that Issie smoked on a regular basis and Magnus did as well, but she had never asked either of them, why they even started. The same question for Andrew burned on her tongue, but she didn’t dare to say it out loud.

”I’m not gonna say anything,” Andrew broke the silence.

That came unexpectedly. Alice looked at him, bewildered. It was clear that he was talking about the trial, about his position as a potential witness. ”What?” she asked, ”Why?”

Andrew’s hazel eyes were staring into the nothing as he took another drag from his cigarette. ”I’m not talking to any judges or to a jury or whatever,” he clarified, ”They don’t need my testimony.”

Alice could feel herself growing angry at Andrew, which was weird. She would have never thought she could feel angry at one of her brothers, but there it was, the familiar sting of anger in her chest. ”So you don’t want to help Aaron?” she asked.

”If the jury is smart enough they won’t convict him. His side of the story is enough,” Andrew claimed. The lack of emotion in his voice just pissed Alice off even more. How could he just not care about what happened to his brother, who was standing in front of this court because of Andrew? Aaron had killed Drake to protect Andrew and now Andrew wouldn’t even testify to protect Aaron. Alice knew that she hadn’t been there last year, she had only known her brothers for two or three months, but she cared about them more than she had ever cared for anything her whole life.

”Why would you deny Aaron the help he clearly needs?” Alice demanded to know, her voice shaky.

”My decision has nothing to do with Aaron,” Andrew said and threw his cigarette to the ground. Instead of going inside, he lit up another one and took a drag, ”His trial, his story. This has nothing to do with me.”

”Of course it does!” Her voice became louder. People were looking at them, some reporters seemed interested all out of the sudden, so Alice quietly lowered her voice. ”To understand why Aaron did it, the jury needs to understand what has happened to you. With Drake.” Her voice became a little bit softer when she mentioned Drake, not wanting to upset her brother.

In that moment, a woman passed the two, wearing all black and huge sunglasses, like she was on her way to a funeral. Despite her wearing sunglasses, Alice could see that the woman was trying not to look at her and Andrew. A man was walking right next to her, probably her husband. He looked at Alice, but obviously ignored Andrew. In that moment, it clicked.

”That was her right?” Alice said, as soon as the pair was in the building, ”That was Cass Spear.”

Andrew didn’t answer, but that was answer enough. The pain in his eyes made it even clearer.

”Don’t tell me you’re doing it for her. Andrew, she needs to know what her son has done,” Alice insisted, her voice quiet but full of passion. She could not stand seeing Andrew abandoning his brother for this woman. ”I know I wasn’t here when it happened, okay? I wasn’t in the house to witness what had happened, I wasn’t even there afterwards, to see how it affected the two of you and your relationship. I only know how the situation is now. But I know what happened. Not only on that day, but the years before. The foster brother you mentioned when we were in Columbia for the first time? That was Drake, right? You willingly let him abuse you because you were hoping to find a family. Now you have a family. You have Nicky and Aaron. You have me. We are your family. You do not need to do that.”

For a short while, Andrew was quiet. He still didn’t look at Alice, instead his eyes were focused on the ground. ”Cass doesn’t need to know anything,” he finally said, so quiet that Alice almost didn’t hear it.

”You’re being selfish,” Alice shot back, harsher than intended.

”When has Aaron ever not been selfish?”

”You’re also being childish.”

Again, Andrew didn’t answer. He just threw away his second cigarette and then, finally, looked up. His stare met Alice’s and they started a staring contest. Alice narrowed her eyes slightly and rose her chin a bit. Tension built up slowly between the two. Alice wished she knew what Andrew was thinking in this exact moment. What Andrew was doing wasn’t fair and he probably knew it, but Alice somehow actually understood him. She wanted both of her brothers to be happy, both of them to be protected, but she doubted that would be possible, especially not in this particular situation.

”He’ll make it without me,” Andrew finally said, ”Trust me, Alice. Aaron will be fine.” His voice sounded a bit softer than before, there was less hatred inside of him. He actually seemed like he cared.

Andrew was quick to turn around and leave their spot, Alice quickly followed him into the building. They enter the court room and Andrew went straight to Aaron’s lawyer to tell him his decision. As expected, the lawyer got pretty mad at Andrew, but that was nothing compared to Nicky. Alice could tell that he was trying not to scream at Andrew in front of all the people, but he obviously tried to persuade Andrew with great passion. Alice tried to catch a glimpse of Aaron’s face, but his lawyer was in the way. Andrew just walked away from them and sat down next to Alice. After a few seconds, Nicky followed him and sat down on the other side of Alice, obviously ignoring Andrew. Alice finally got to look at Aaron, his face pale, his expression frightened. Alice immediately felt sorry for him, wanting nothing more than giving him a hug and telling him that everything would be okay eventually. Andrew said everything would be okay. And Andrew was rarely ever wrong.

Alice left the building with an euphoric feeling, a smile adorning her face. The three of them somehow lost Aaron in the mess of people, after he and his lawyer went to talk to the judge. Andrew was dragging on his cigarette, nothing he did hinted how he felt. Nicky on the other hand was a bouncing ball of joy, a wide grin decorating his face, his eyes were shining like the sun, the grip of his hand around Alice’s was hard.

”There he is!” Nicky shouted as soon as Aaron left the building and Alice just started jogging towards Aaron hugging him tight, laughing. Alice could hear him laughing as well and in that second, his laugh was the most beautiful thing to ever exist. It was the sound of pure joy.

Nicky hugged Aaron afterwards, actual tears streaming down his cheeks, but Alice couldn’t blame him. He even lifted Aaron off the ground, swirling him around in a circle. Aaron did not complain at all, never stopping to smile.

Andrew didn’t say anything, he just finished his cigarette and threw it to the ground. He gave Alice an I-told-you-so look and walked past them to get to the Maserati. He instantly stops as he catches a glimpse of Cass Spear, standing a few meters away from them, crying and hugging her husband. Alice leaned towards Andrew and said with a quiet voice: ”She hasn’t looked at you once, has she?”

Andrew didn’t answer, he just started walking again, his expression dark.

As soon as everybody sat in the Maserati, Alice texted Katelyn about the outcome of the trial. Katelyn just responded with uncountable exclamation marks and about a dozen hearts. Another message was waiting for Alice, this time from Farid. ”You guys better get back here quick, things are getting messy. Matt just punched Jack because Jack was being a dick about the trial.”

Alice didn’t respond, but she had to smile. She made a mental note to buy Matt some ice cream or something like that. 

Nicky was fully energized and just kept on talking and talking, but for the first time, nobody seemed to mind at all, not even Andrew. Aaron looked the most relaxed Alice had seen him in a long time. He was looking out of the window, a tiny smile resting on his lips, never entirely leaving his face. Alice didn’t know what he was thinking about, but she could imagine it. A future with Katelyn, without worries, building a solid basis together. Just looking at him like that filled Alice’s heart with love and happiness. All the tension from the way to the court was gone and Alice felt like maybe everything would turn out fine at the end.

When they arrived at the Fox Tower, all the Foxes plus Katelyn were standing outside of the tower, even all the freshmen. As soon as Aaron got out of the Maserati, Katelyn started running and jumped right into Aaron’s open arms. Alice could see her crying and laughing and kissing Aaron’s face again and again. Alice could see Aaron’s lips moving, but she couldn’t hear what he was saying. The whole scene was incredibly beautiful and Alice felt like crying, but no tears came.

Andrew immediately walked past them, straight towards Neil. He obviously wasn’t okay and Alice doubted there was anybody except Neil who could make him feel less empty inside. Despite Aaron winning the trial, Andrew had a very hard day and would probably still be in a bad mood a few days after. Neil welcomed Andrew home by softly placing a hand on Andrew’s shoulder and when he didn’t shake it off, Neil softly squeezed it.

As soon as Katelyn let go off Aaron, they slowly walked over to the other Foxes and Nicky and Alice followed them. After quickly congratulating him, Neil quickly disappeared into the tower, Andrew slouching behind him. Alice could spot Jack with a black eye and a swollen lip and couldn’t hide a grin. She turned around to high five Matt, whose face lit up with a grin as well. 

It was heartwarming to see all the other Foxes congratulating and approaching Aaron. Dan hugged him tight after softly slapping his chest and saying ”Don’t you ever worry me like that again!”, Renee hugged him very softly and said something to him very quietly, with a kind smile and Allison just looked at him, said ”I’m glad you’re not in prison, Minyard,” and ruffled his hair, which made Aaron growl. Matt pulled Aaron into a bearhug and lifted him off the ground.

”He can be glad that Aaron is not Andrew, because Andrew would’ve stabbed him,” Nicky quietly said to Alice.

Kevin just looked at Aaron, before awkwardly patting his shoulder and saying some encouraging words. The freshmen were still a bit afraid of Aaron, but they smiled at him and congratulated him, even Sheena and Jack.

Alice’s insides warmed up as she watched the scene. She has always had the feeling that Aaron isn’t necessarily that welcome amongst the Foxes, even the older Foxes treated him differently. He never really seemed like a part of the group. But seeing them genuinely happy and glad for him, made Alice incredibly happy.

Once all the Foxes were done congratulating him, Wymack, Abby and Betsy suddenly were there. Alice had no clue where they came from; she hadn’t seen them before. Both the women hugged Aaron tight, whispering their congratulations. For a second, Wymack and Aaron just stared at each other, before Wymack opened his arms.

”Come here, you idiot,” he quietly said and the both of them hugged.

In the corner of her eye, Alice could see Abby tearing up and she felt Nicky grabbing her hand, his grip so tight it hurt her hand. It hurt in a good way. Just like loving her brothers hurt in a good way.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I hope you guys liked this chapter! Due to me being really busy at the moment it took me very long to write this chapter, but I'm happy with the outcome! Please leave some comments and Kudos if you enjoyed my chapter.


	11. Collide

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The Foxes play another game and Alice is confronted with her past.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> WARNING: This chapter contains a panic attack and mentions of abuse. And other dark stuff. It hurts.

As her name was called, Alice stormed onto the court, Neil right behind her, his breath heavy and loud. It was a rough match against Blackwell University and the Foxes were losing, which was a surprise. They hadn’t lost a single game this season so far and Blackwell wasn’t an opponent they had expected to play this good. Again, Alice was sent onto court after the halftime break, adrenaline rushing through her veins, but this time she was determined to show these fuckers who the Foxes really were.

”We will destroy you,” Alice’s backliner mark, a tall girl with dark skin, said to her, gritting her teeth.

”Good luck trying,” Alice hissed back, narrowing her eyes. She was ready to destroy Blackwell.

The game started and once again, Alice was fascinated by the speed of Exy, but there was to time to philosophize about her favorite sports; there was a game to win and as a striker, it was her job to score.

Matt snatched the ball away from a Blackwell striker and called Neil’s name, before throwing the ball into the vague direction of the strikers. Both of them started running and Neil managed to catch it, running two steps with it and then passing it to Alice before his backliner mark tackled him to the ground. Alice had no time to worry about Neil, she kept running towards the goal and started aiming. She could see from the corner of her eye that Neil had gotten up again and got ready to fire. Unfortunately, the Blackwell goalkeeper snatched it before it hit the goal. Alice suppressed an angry curse.

”You missed!” her backliner mark shouted mockingly.

”No fucking way, smartass,” she muttered, before going back to playing.

Minutes went on without either of the teams scoring. A Blackwell striker almost scored, but Magnus blocked the goal like his life depended on it and sent the ball back to Allison, who fired it towards Alice. She caught the ball with her net and started running towards the goal, managing to get past the backliners, before passing it to Neil after nine steps. Neil caught it and ran towards the goal with a breathtaking speed. Alice doubted that there was anything that could stop him right now and she tried her best at keeping the backliners away from him. A loud buzz sounded. She missed it. As Alice turned around, the red of the goal slowly faded and Neil came running towards Alice, a grim smile on his face. They clacked their racquets against each other, before jogging back to their positions on court. The score now was even again. 2:2. Alice tried getting a glimpse at Wymack and Kevin behind the plexiglass, but it reflected, so she couldn’t see them. Allison grinned at the strikers, her expression determined and fierce, every muscle in her body seemed ready to attack. Aaron and Matt looking exactly the same. The Foxes were going for the win.

There were three minutes of the game left, when Blackwell scored for the third time. Matt had been swapped for Nicky, meaning the Foxes defense had a weak point and Blackwell shamelessly took advantage of it. As they scored, Alice could see all of the Foxes’ faces drop. They had expected the outcome to be 2:2. And now Blackwell had scored.

”Fuckers,” Neil cursed and exchanged an angry look with Alice. So far, the two of them had merely bonded over the court, they rarely actually talked when they hung out together or at least not as much as Alice talked with her brothers or Nicky. But she knew exactly how Neil felt.

Even from that distance, Alice could see the frustration on Aaron’s face. He never usually was the most emotional player, sometimes Alice thought he even cared less about Exy than Andrew, but he was good, incredibly good and the Foxes losing frustrated even him.

The loud buzz signalized the end of the match. Everything was silent in the stadium for a very short second. Alice could hear the blood rushing through her veins, her breath loud due to exhaustion. She couldn’t believe that this was the outcome of the game. Their first loss. Alice knew, losing wasn’t unusual for the older Foxes, but it was the first time this season. It felt like a punch in the face.

”Alright champs,” Wymack declared, as soon as all the Foxes were in the locker room, ”First loss this season, but still not a bad game. You gave everything and played fair and well. Next time will be a win again, if you guys would stop being fucking late for morning practice.”

”But Coach, it’s so early,” Hector complained.

”Not my problem,” Wymack responded and crossed his arms.

”We could’ve done a lot better,” Kevin said, his voice disgruntled, expression annoyed, ”Nicky you should really put more energy into practice or else you might spend more time on that bench than you’d like to. The offense was extremely weak today.”

”May we remind you, that you’re part of the offense as well, Princess Kevin?” Issie offered, grinning.

Kevin just glared at her angrily for a second, before ignoring her and continuing his demotivating speech. ”Magnus, you’re not strong enough yet to play a full half. Your blocking got sloppy at the end, obviously.”

Alice exchanged a quick look with Nicky, wondering how long Kevin’s rant would take and how much longer Wymack would tolerate it. After another solid two minutes of Kevin telling the Foxes what they did wrong, before Dan interfered, after Wymack let out a loud sigh.

”Kevin, enough. It was a good game,” she scolded.

”We lost, Dan.”

”Boo hoo. Get over it, Day.”

”Now, Alice, Dan, Nicky, get outta here, we don’t want to leave the press waiting any longer. The rest, get changed,” Wymack ordered and shooed all of the Foxes out.

Dan grabbed Nicky and Alice’s arms and dragged them with her out of the room, towards where the press was waiting for them, eyes and ears hungry for what the three of them might have to say. Alice had never been on press duty before and she is kind of nervous about it. She mostly tried to avoid looking at Exy magazines or even sports shows on the TV, even though she loved looking at them before she came to PSU, but to be honest, Alice is kind of afraid of what the press might have to say about her and her relationship to her brothers, her fucked up past and her weak appearance, not to mention her playing style. Unfortunately, Kevin was obsessed with everything Exy and tried to keep everyone informed about what the press had to say about the Foxes.

Alice felt more secure, having Nicky and Dan at her side. Nicky was part of her family and Dan was the team captain, she knew how to deal with situations like this. There were far too many people for Alice to feel comfortable, questions started raining on them, people shouted their names, shouted questions and lights were going off. All the cameras were overwhelming and Alice really felt like running away, but Dan’s hard grip on her arm made her stay. At first, the reporters mainly asked questions about the game, how they felt about losing and what they had to say about any future games. Dan mostly answered these questions, considering she was the team captain, but Nicky and Alice answered some questions as well. Suddenly, Alice heard one of the reporters shouting her name over and over again.

”Alice! Alice, here! Alice, look here!”

Alice tried finding the man who kept shouting her name, but there were far too many people and everything was far too chaotic.

”Alice, how did you find out about your brothers? How did they react to you finding them?”

Another voice started shouting her name. ”Alice Minyard, what is it like having Andrew and Aaron as brothers? Are they as terrible as everyone says they are?”

Alice could feel Nicky tense up right next to her and he protectively started shielding her body with his. She kindly ignored the reporters and tried paying attention to those that were asking questions about Exy.

”Alice could you comment on the difficulty of being an underweight athlete? How does it affect your playing? Why are you so thin?”

Nicky opened his mouth to call out the reporter, but with a fake smile, Dan dragged her nails into Nicky’s arm and said: ”Could we please focus on questions about Exy? I don’t think the players’ weight is of importance.”

For a short while, the questions went back to being about Exy.

”Alice, could you please comment on what happened right before you got to PSU? How did your foster family react to the news that you suddenly had two older brothers and wanted to move across the country to be with them instead of your family?”

Alice just immediately froze. Not a single muscle in her body was willing to work. She knew that voice by heart, the voice that haunted her in her sleep and sometimes even when she was awake. Her eyes rushed over the reporters and there he was, there he stood, her last ever foster father, a few meters away from him. Suddenly, she felt his hands on her again, gripping her too tight, leaving bruises on her skin, his fist hitting her face. She heard the sound of his angry voice, screaming at her, doors slamming and she very clearly heard her own voice, sobbing and screaming until her throat was sore. Alice had no idea, how he managed to get there, how he disguised himself as a reporter, but considering he was a police officer, it couldn’t have been that hard. Breathing became harder and harder until she didn’t remember the feeling of how oxygen in her lungs was supposed to feel like.

Nicky and Dan seemed to notice something was wrong and reacted immediately. Nicky carefully grabbed Alice’ hand and softly squeezed it.

”Let us please stick to Exy questions, alright?” Dan politely said.

But Alice couldn’t breathe, because he was there and he was staring right at her and she knew that stare, she knew him and she knew what he had done to her and she just couldn’t breathe and suddenly her muscles worked again and she stumbled backwards. Nicky held onto her hand tight, looking at her for a second, before turning around to the reporters again.

”I think we have answered enough questions. Thank you for your time and support for the team,” he said, before quickly leading Alice away from the reporters. Her vision was blurry and she couldn’t focus on anything, not even where Nicky lead her and suddenly Wymack and Abby were there and Alice tripped and fell onto the ground, pressing her hands to the ground, concentrating on trying to breathe normally. Some part of her brain registered that Wymack was asking questions and that Dan and Nicky were trying to answer, but Alice couldn’t bring herself to listen to him. Her eyes were focused on the ground, her shivering fingers and everything else inside her body was focused on breathing. In and out. In and out. In and out.

Matt’s voice came out of nowhere. ”What’s going on here? Is she alright?”

”Get the twins, Matt. Quick,” Wymack ordered, before lowering himself on his knees to be closer to Alice. He did not touch her. ”Alice,” he said urgently, ”What happened? Talk to me.”

Alice somehow managed to shake her head. Her head was filled with a horrible mixture of his angry screams and her frightened sobs. Suddenly, there were strong arms around her body, a warm body right next to her and a calming voice, talking to her. Alice held onto Aaron for dear life. After a while that felt like a few seconds, but more likely had been a few minutes, Alice finally could breathe normally again. Aaron was still holding her and she could hear Nicky quietly explaining what had happened. Alice slowly raised her eyes, seeking for Andrew. He looked at her, calm and calculating, but his eyes were not able to hide his worry.

”You remember that game we played when you took me to Columbia for the first time?” she quietly said, her voice hoarse as she had been screaming and sobbing for the last hours. It had only been in her head. Or had it?

Andrew nodded.

”My last answer. He’s here,” her voice started getting shaky, ”He’ll try to get me. He wants to take me away from you.”

She started shivering heavily. He was here. He could wait anywhere for her. He could sneak into her dormitory and knock her out and take her with him. In that moment she realized, that he had been the one watching her whenever she was out for the last weeks. It had been him.

”Alice, darling,” Abby started saying softly, ”Nobody will take you away from here. Nobody can force you to go if you don’t want to.”

Alice could see Andrew searching for Aaron’s look. The twins had a quiet conversation nobody except them could understand, before having a quick exchange of words in German. Afterwards, Andrew kneeled down so his eyes were next to Alice and Aaron’s. He looked directly into her eyes with an incredibly intense stare.

”We won’t let him take you away from us. He cannot do anything. We won’t let him.

”We promise,” Aaron added, his tone dead serious.

A promise wasn’t something her brothers gave away easily and certainly not something they would break. Alice knew that. A promise was something, her brothers were willing, were determined to keep. Slowly, Alice calmed down, knowing her brothers would protect her. They would not let her be taken away.

”Can somebody explain this to us?” Wymack asked.

Alice just bit her lip, still a little bit in shock. She wasn’t ready yet to talk, never mind to talk about what just happened.

”Let her explain when she’s ready, David,” Abby softly said, placing her hand on Wymack’s arm.

He nodded and then looked at Alice, his expression as worried as it could get. ”Feel free to take your time, but remember Andrew and Aaron aren’t the only ones who can help you. We can protect you as well,” he promised and then shot Andrew a quick glance, ”Without killing anyone.”

Alice nodded and let Aaron help her get up. Dan took her to the girls locker room, but she quickly stopped before they entered. ”You okay with everyone else in there? We could wait until they’re all done and then you could go. You don’t need to face them right now,” she offered, kindly smiling.

”I’m alright, but thank you,” Alice answered, not really sure what else to say. Dan had just seen her have a breakdown and that was embarrassing enough. Her kindness just was too much to handle.

Alice was still shaking as she and Dan entered the locker room. She didn’t dare to look anybody in the face and quickly showered and got re-dressed. All the other girls had their eyes on Alice, she could feel them all over her body, her pale face and her frightened expression. Sheena opened her mouth to say something but the murderous expression on Dan’s face made her swallow her words again. 

As Alice walked out of the locker room, she decided she wanted to tell them, she needed to tell them. Her brothers, Nicky and Wymack deserved to know what they were protecting her from. It was time to share a piece of her story. She walked towards Wymack, not sure how to appropriately say it, but she didn’t have to. Her expression did no good in hiding her intention, so Wymack just signaled Andrew, Aaron and Nicky that they should join them. Alice could see Andrew saying something to Neil, before Neil nodded and left with Kevin.

”We might as well just take this to the lounge,” Wymack said and Nicky and Aaron quickly nodded. The boys took place on the couch, Wymack on one of the armchairs. Alice sat down on a chair, feeling exposed and unprotected, but she didn’t want anybody close to her while she told her story. Insecure, she cleared her throat and then started talking.

”My last foster father, his name is Christian Hayes, was divorced and his daughter lived with her mom. He was one of those that actually loved me like his child, but his way of loving was just fucked up. He had always been extremely overprotective, always drove me to school and picked me up, drove me to my friends and practice. It was nice, knowing that he cared about my safety. The weirdest thing though was that he locked my door at night.  
At the beginning I didn’t even notice, but one night I wanted to get out of my room because I was thirsty and had forgotten to take a water bottle to my room and I just couldn’t get out. He said the door must’ve jammed, but after that night it happened again. I didn’t really dare to ask him about it, afraid he might get angry or didn’t want to foster me anymore if I became problematic. It was weird. He hated my friends and hated me hanging out with them, but he was willing to pick me up from a party in the middle of the night.  
Slowly, he started getting weirder and more controlling. He prepared all of my food, he came to all of my Exy practices and every single game, he barely left me alone. It was weird, but he was nice to me and took care, so I didn’t say anything.  
When I found out about Andrew and Aaron, I didn’t tell him at first, afraid he might freak out when he found out I wanted to move here just to find my long lost brothers. I was afraid he might be jealous. After my first phone call with Wymack when it was settled that I could go to PSU, I told him. Not about my brothers, but that I wanted to go to college at PSU, because I could play Exy there.”

Alice had to pause. She could see the image of Christian, the way his smile dropped and developed into a mask of anger. For a second, she closed her eyes, before returning to telling her story.

”He got incredibly mad and he kept screaming at me and hitting me and he demanded to know why I wanted to go to college in South Carolina until I finally told him that I had found my brothers and wanted to meet them. As soon as I mentioned them he got suspiciously calm and said he’d think about it. Maybe, I thought, he realized how important it was for me and just wanted my best. At night, he locked my door as usual. But in the morning, he didn’t unlock it.”

She had to pause again. Her mouth protested, even when she opened it, there were no words that wanted to come out. Her tongue was stuck as she thought about that morning and the moment she realized that he wouldn’t let her out.

”It’s alright, Alice,” Wymack comforted her, ”Take your time.”

A deep breath, a look at her brothers’ faces. Another deep breath. Counting to ten in her head to order her thoughts. Her mouth stopped protesting.

”We screamed at each other through the locked door and I begged for him to let me out, but he didn’t until the next morning, because I had to attend school. The whole time, when I was in class, he sat in front of the building in his car, waiting for me to finish. I don’t know how he managed to do that, because he had to work. But he did. He didn’t let me meet my friends. The only thing I could do was school and practice. At night, he locked my door.  
It got even worse after graduation. He only let me out to go to the toilet or to shower, afraid I might try to break out once he let me into the living room. He brought the food to my room so I could eat it there. It was hell. I tried breaking the door open multiple times, but I was to light and too small and the door was too heavy. I even trie climbing out of the window once, but I sprained my ankle. That was when I called Wymack to tell him I’d arrive late due to family problems. One night, I finally managed to escape. Friends from high school helped me, they brought me a ladder and drove me to the airport. I didn’t have money for a ticket to South Carolina. Again, I called Wymack,” Alice sent Wymack a thankful look, ”And he said he’d pick me up wherever I would land. So I bought a ticket and flew as far as I could get and now I’m here.  
I never heard of Christian again. Until now. Now he’s here.”

There was a long silence after Alice had finished. She didn’t want to look anybody in the eyes, so she focused on her fingers. After a while, Nicky got up and walked over to Alice, his eyes red and puffy.

”Can I hug you?” he quietly said, his voice husky.

Alice nodded and he drew her close, hugging her tight. Everything about this hug felt protecting and careful. It felt like safety. It felt like home. Alice felt like crying, but she knew that there were no tears. She had given up crying at some point, locked in her room at Seattle, her whole body sore from her attempt to flee.

”He won’t get you,” Aaron said, his voice strained with anger, ”Andrew and I will make sure he won’t.”

”What’s the worst you think he could do?” Wymack asked, trying to remain calm and rational, ”We need to be prepared for everything.”

One part of Alice wanted to refuse his help. She didn’t deserve it. Wymack had done so much for her and she was in no position to give him anything back. The other part of Alice knew she needed his help, knew she needed protection. She wanted to stay, so she had to do something for it. ”Probably kidnap me,” she considered, ”I am also kind of afraid he might harm Andrew or Aaron. Or Nicky, as soon as he finds out that he’s my cousin. He’s a police officer. And he has a gun.”

”I have knives,” Andrew said calmly, slowly dragging one out of his armbands.

”Andrew, put the knife away,” Coach demanded, before returning his look to Alice, ”Try to go nowhere alone. I will make sure to get more security at Fox Tower and our games. Maybe I can even get him banned from our games. Christian Hayes you said? I will try my best.” He made a short pause, thought about something for a quick minute, ”You are a Fox now, alright? You belong to us.”

Alice nodded and thanked Wymack. A simple ”Thank you“ was by far not enough to express how thankful she really was, but she figured that Wymack knew by the way he looked at her.

Her family followed her out of the room to the Maserati, protectively surrounding her. They drove back to Fox Tower in silence, Alice riding shotgun, not daring to look at anyone.

When they arrived, she cleared her throat. ”I don’t really feel like partying,” Alice admitted, knowing that the team was right now having a party in the study room, as they always had. Nicky nodded and opened his mouth to say something, but Andrew was faster.

”Get out,” he ordered, ”We have plans.”

Aaron gave Alice’s shoulder a quick squeeze, before he and Nicky got out of the Maserati and slowly walked towards the tower. Alice looked at Andrew, wondering what he had in mind, but he didn’t return her look and just started driving again.

They weren’t driving anywhere, Alice realized after a while. Like the last time when she had a panic attack, they were just driving around. She tried to relax and sink into the leather of her seat, but she still wasn’t calm. Christian’s face was there, every time she closed her eyes, so she just settled on looking at Andrew, hoping he’d replace the image of her foster father. Before meeting Andrew, Alice didn’t knew that cars calmed her down. Usually, cars meant moving, cars meant a new family, cars meant being abandoned. Now, cars meant home.

”You’re not going to kill him, are you?” Alice asked after a while, her voice surprisingly calm as she thought about her brother murdering her foster father. The though of it was weirdly pleasant.

”As long as he doesn’t touch you,” Andrew answered, ”I don’t like it when somebody else touches things that belong to me.”

Alice sighed. ”I’m a person, not a thing, Andrew.”

”What’s the difference anyways? You still belong to me.”

The warm feeling inside of her caused Alice to smile. She didn’t answer, just sank even deeper into the leather seat and crossed her arms. She belonged to her brothers now. Before coming to PSU, she had never really belonged anywhere. After a while, Alice fell asleep, feeling safe and warm, while Andrew was still driving.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> What a dive into Alice's past. Unfortunately, it's only one of many terrible stories of her time growing up in the system. Due to the way of storytelling, we were only able to get a few glimpses of Andrew's time in the system and I might include some more stories of Alice's past in this fanfiction. I hope you liked this chapter and if you did, leave some comments and Kudos! And get ready for more angst.


	12. Sooner Or Later

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The Foxes have practice, Alice gets confronted by her past once again.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> WARNING: This chapter contains mentions of abuse and eating disorders!
> 
> Another thing I'd like to say: I'm sorry for not updating for a while, but school just started three weeks ago and I am more than busy with my last year of high school. This chapter was pretty hard to write and I don't even really know why. It is also unedited and probably extremely messy. Nevertheless I hope you enjoy it!

“Move your lazy asses, Foxes, or I’ll bust them!“ Wymack shouted all over the court, his expression annoyed.

Alice could hear Hector and Jack groaning. After the offense’s lazy exertion, Wymack and Dan kept pushing the strikers further and further, not to mention Kevin and Neil. It wasn’t easy for the three freshman strikers, playing on the same team as Kevin and Neil. Kevin was the most talented striker in NCAA Class I Exy and Neil was on the best way to being second best. And furthermore, Kevin was always the first to criticize anybody on the court and as Neil grew more and more comfortable with his role as vice captain, he started correcting and criticizing the others as well. Alice wasn’t too sure if she would be able to deal with Wymack, Dan, Kevin and Neil bossing her around, but then again the worst of them had always been Kevin and he was still mainly focused on the other freshmen.

Issie passed the ball over to Dan, who passed it over to Alice. She ran six steps before aiming and firing the ball at the goal. Relief spread inside of Alice as Magnus missed her shot and the goal lit up red behind him. She could see Magnus swearing, before running back towards the others.

“Shitty block! Try harder, Magnus, Alice is not that hard to block!“ Kevin shouted all over the court, his face a stone cold mask, not allowing anybody to read his mind.

The warm feeling inside of Alice disappeared immediately. Not that hard to block? She would show him not that hard to block. Jack, Aaron and Farid were up next, Magnus stayed in goal. All the passes were flawlessly and Jack scored from meters away. Alice had to admit that it was a pretty decent shot, but as always, Kevin was the first to criticize.

“You’re lucky there was no backliner to block that shot, because even Nicky would’ve been able to catch that ball,“ he declared, crossing his arms in front of his chest.

“He’s right,“ Neil agreed, “Try and run a few more steps with the ball, before you fire.“

Jack shot Neil a look filled with hate. His antagonism towards Neil had only gotten worse by each practice the Foxes had and Alice was surprised Neil hadn’t snapped so far. Kevin definitely would’ve punched Jack by now if his hate had been directed towards the tall striker, but Neil remained surprisingly calm.

“At least I scored,“ Jack growled, narrowing his eyes.

They switched again and again, until it was Alice’s turn again, this time against Renee in goal. Kevin’s comment from earlier was still in her mind, she was willing to show him that she was, in fact, a good striker. Maybe not the best fucking striker in the world, but she was good.

Aaron passed the ball to Sheena, who passed it towards Alice. It was a lousy pass and Alice had to sprint towards the ball to get it. She kept running and after her fifth step she fired right into the bottom left corner. Renee didn’t catch it and again, Alice felt relieved.

“Good shot,“ Dan embraced her with a grin.

Nicky gave Alice a thumbs-up and a quick look over to Kevin told Alice, that he was content with her shot. Practice went on and Alice felt quite good about herself. She knew she had improved her playing ever since she joined the Foxes, which was no surprise. They were the current NCAA Class I Exy champions and with Kevin pestering her, she had no choice but to improve. Alice had never thought about trying to go Pro one day, back in high school he hadn’t even been planning to continue playing at college, but hanging out constantly with Kevin and Neil did something to her. Exy had become more to her than just a sports, it had become a passion.

After practice in the girls’ dressing room, Dan walked up to Alice, her smile warm and genuine, but Alice could tell she had to force herself to smile at her. Usually, Dan’s smiles weren’t forced and her expression confused Alice.

“Wanna join us for dinner?“ Dan asked, even her voice sounded fake.

“Who’s us?“ Alice asked without looking at Dan.

“Renee, Allison and I,“ Dan explained.

“You don’t actually have a choice, Minyard, Dan’s just asking because she’s nice! You’re having dinner with us tonight!“ Allison shouted from across the room. Alice preferred Allison’s brutal honesty over Dan’s careful politeness this time. Dan sometimes acted like Alice was a ticking timebomb and Alice guessed it was because of her brothers. She knew that all the upperclassmen were trying to get along with her brothers, but sometimes one could still see that they weren’t completely comfortable around them yet.

“Alright,“ Alice said and shrugged.

Dan smiled. “Be at our dorm at 7:30 pm. Don’t bother to bring or do anything, we’ll cook.“

“Alright.“

Alice wondered, what the three girls had in mind. They were planning something, that was obvious, but Alice couldn’t get her mind wrapped around what it was. Nevertheless they did not seem like a danger to her, so she decided she would actually go there, curious about their intentions, a bit afraid of their questions. She had just shared a huge part of her past with half of the team and she knew that Allison was fairly interested in her past, and facing her past again would be about as much fun as the last time. What Alice knew was that she didn’t owe these girls anything. They had no right to learn things about her past and if she didn’t want to share details, she would not have to. Allison could be quite demanding, but Dan and Renee were understanding and patient, or at least that’s how Alice thought of them. 

When Alice arrived at the older girls’ dorm, Allison and Renee were in the kitchen, quietly talking and laughing, while they were preparing the food. Dan sat on the couch, watching an Exy news channel. Alice sat down next to her, joining Dan in watching a bunch of interviews with Court members, like Thea Muldani, her make up as bright as always, creating a shocking contrast to her dark skin. Alice had always admired Thea.

“She’s Kevin’s girlfriend, right?“ Alice asked, never leaving the TV screen with her eyes.

“How do you know?“ Dan asked, surprised, “I mean, she is, but it’s not exactly like Kevin talks a lot about her.“

Alice shrugged. “He’s not as subtle as he thinks he is,“ she answered.

Dan grinned, this time it wasn’t fake at all. Alice liked her real smile a lot better. “Or you’re just really smart. He actually had to tell us because Nicky was constantly trying to hook him up with somebody.“

“Nicky probably wanted to hook up with Kevin himself,“ Alice said, only half-joking. She knew about the list Nicky and his boyfriend Erik had and she knew that Kevin was very high on that list.

Dan laughed. “Actually, yes,“ she answered and her expression told Alice that there was a story to this, but Alice wasn’t too sure if she even wanted to hear it.

They kept watching the interview in silence, hearing Allison and Renee’s quiet voices and laughters in the background. Alice wasn’t surprised that she knew all of the players they were interviewing; the TV in Andrew’s room was always used for video games, but that didn’t stop Kevin from watching Exy news and games on his laptop, sometimes even with full volume on.

Dan cleared her throat after a while. “So, um, how is it going?“

Alice stared at her in blank confusion.

“With Andrew and Aaron? What are they like as big brothers?“

It was not really surprising that Dan asked her this. The Foxes only knew Andrew and Aaron as team members and probably assholes and they wanted to know, if they behaved differently as brothers. If they had soft spots.

“Hard to tell,“ Alice answered honestly, “They’re better brothers than any foster brother I have ever had. I know you guys had troubles with them, but they… They really care. They just don’t show it like you’d expect them to. Especially Andrew.“

Talking about her brothers was easier than she had expected. The words just rolled off her tongue. She felt the immediate need to defend her brothers and wondered, if they felt the same way about her. Actually, she knew that they did. Everything about their behavior told her that they were extremely protective over her. For the first time in her life, someone felt the exact same way about Alice that she felt about them.

“Andrew almost broke my neck once!“ Allison shouted from the kitchen. 

“Why?“

“I slapped Aaron!“

“Well, then it’s no surprise,“ Alice laughed, but there was no sympathy in her laugh.

“But Aaron as being a total dick. How can you stand him? He’s one of the biggest assholes I know and trust me, I know assholes. I’ve dated a lot of them,“ Allison complained.

Alice took a few deep breaths to calm herself down. Allison barely knew anything about Aaron and what made Alice even more furious was that Allison didn’t even bother trying to understand Aaron.

“He’s different when he’s with me. It’s not exactly his biggest dream to be best friends with him and he doesn’t particularly like you,“ Alice explained, surprised that her voice sounded so calm.

“Well, we don’t particularly like him back!“ Allison shouted from the kitchen.

“He knows, but I don’t think he cares,“ Alice answered.

Allison stepped out of the kitchen, her blonde hair pulled back into a messy bun, she was wearing Renee’s PSU sweater and no pants, but she still managed to look glamorous. “Does he even care about anything?“

Alice took some time to answer. “Yes,“ she finally said, her voice quiet.

It made her sad that they didn’t give the twins another chance. Especially because of their own pasts. They had all suffered. They had all been hurt. Yet they didn’t bother trying to understand a deeply hurt boy that had never experienced any love until he met Nicky. Alice felt like explaining Aaron’s whole life to Allison, throwing the facts at her head, showing her that he had any reason to be an asshole.

“We can’t expect everybody to act and think like us,“ Renee softly interfered, before Alice could start a fight. She slung an arm around Allison’s hips, offering her support, but also holding her back from walking towards Alice. “The twins are an extreme example for the, but we need to try and understand their behavior before we can criticize them.“

“It’s not like we don’t care at all about them,“ Dan quickly added, “They are Foxes, which means they belong to the family. It’s just really hard with them sometimes.“

Alice was thankful for Dan and Renee taking her side and remaining as neutral as they can.

“Besides, dinner is ready,“ Renee declared, before disappearing into the kitchen again.

Dan and Alice got up and followed Renee. There was a small dining table inside of the kitchen that provided just enough space for the four girls. Renee and Allison had prepared a meal with rice and vegetables that smelled Asian in some way. They started eating, but nobody said anything. Alice slowly got suspicious again. Asking her about her brothers couldn’t have been the only reason to invite her. Every single girl was watching her movements and not even Renee could hide that they were waiting for something.

“Okay,“ Alice said, after all four of them ate in silence for a few minutes and looked up, “What is it? I’m not stupid. I can tell you want something. Why have you invited me today?“

Dan jumped at it, but Renee and Allison didn’t even react. The three of them shared a quick glance.

“We just wanted to get to know you a bit better, you know,“ Dan eventually said, her voice revealing that she was lying.

“As I just said, I’m not stupid. I can tell that you’re lying. What do you really want?“

They shared a quick glance again and again, Dan started talking.

“We actually were a bit worried,“ she began slowly, “It’s none of our business and all, but we… We noticed… I mean, we’re worried about…“

“What Dan’s trying to say is that you’re underweight. You probably know that yourself. And when we were shopping for the fall banquet, you mentioned something about lookinf too thin. We, or let’s say I am worried you might have an eating disorder.“ Allison explained, more serious than Alice had ever experienced her. Allison’s big eyes were on Alice, her expression calm, but interested. Renee and Dan gave her the exact same look.

Alice wanted to disappear. All of her alarm clocks were ringing, but she forced herself to remain calm. “What makes you think it’s any of your business?“ she asked, her voice as cold as ice.

“As I said, it’s actually not. But we wanted to make sure you’re okay,“ Dan quickly said and smiled at Alice.

“I am,“ she answered, challenging all three with her look. Alice was furious. She did not owe these girls anything. They weren’t in the position to ask questions like these and claiming they cared about her and her health didn’t seem exactly convincing to Alice.

“Great,“ Allison said and smiled. Nothing about that smile was real. “Because I also always said I was alright when I had bulimia.“

Alice felt extremely uncomfortable being questioned like that. She knew that Dan wasn’t exactly comfortable with the situation either, but she guessed there was no stopping Allison once Allison wanted something.

A part of Alice was afraid of admitting the truth. Yes, she was underweight and she used to have an eating disorder. She had been twelve when she stopped eating because her foster father back then used to take advantages of her and she hoped that he’d stop if she’d keep her body as boyish as she could. Of course he did not, but Alice had been desperate for him to stop. He had been the worst so far and she had just been a little girl, hoping that the world wasn’t as terrible as it seemed. Alice had never really gotten rid of her thinness, although it had gotten a lot better.

She was definitely not ready to share that part of her past with these girls, especially not after they interrogated her like that. Alice wondered why Allison refused trying to understand the twins so badly. Her own ways of getting what she wanted weren’t exactly conventional either.

“I am alright,“ Alice declared, “I eat. I am strong enough to play.“

The others didn’t look convinced, but Alice didn’t care about their opinions. Allison opened her mouth to say something, but Renee quickly started saying something.

“We’re sorry that we assumed wrong. I hope you can forgive us and that this dinner isn’t completely ruined,“ Renee explained and gave Alice a kind smile.

Alice had been planning on being mad at them, but Renee was so polite and her smile was so warm and pretty and she just couldn’t do it.

“It’s alright,“ she stated, “You were just worried. I understand that.“

It had been the wrong thing to do of them, confronting her with it, but she also knew that this came from Allison and similar to her brothers, Allison had her own way of dealing with stuff. It was just harder for her to let Allison do that kind of stuff, because they did not have an emotional connection. Alice did not want to hold any grudges against Allison or the other girls. It would just be a waste of her energy.

Despite this talk, Alice actually spent a nice evening with the senior girls. They talked about how crazy it was that it was their last year, they talked about plans for the future, asked Alice what she wanted to do in the future, discussed Exy, gossiped about the freshmen.

The twins or Alice’s past were not mentioned even once again.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> If you liked this chapter please leave some comments and Kudos! The next chapters should be easier to write for me, but I still don't have a lot of time to work on this fanfiction. I hope you understand. And don't worry, Andrew's lot will appear again in the next chapter with a special focus on my favourite boy.


	13. I'll Be Fine, Really

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> A shopping trip with the monsters turns into a nightmare.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> WARNING: this chapter contains mild references to past abuse, a minor panic attack and well hard language but none of it really is a surprise when talking about the Foxes, is it?
> 
> This is my version of fluff turning into a panic attack. Enjoy.

It was a big surprise to everybody that the Foxes had actually decided to celebrate Halloween as a team. It had been Dan’s idea and she was incredibly pleased that everybody had agreed. This was her last year as captain and she seemed determined to make it the year the Foxes would finally become an almost normal team.

The Foxes had agreed on celebrating in a popular club near campus instead of Eden’s Twilight which the cousins had suggested because “not everybody has a fucking house in Columbia, Andrew“. Andrew was pissed afterwards for a few minutes, not really wanting to go to another club, but Neil managed to convince him that it would make more sense and be easier for all the others to celebrate close to the campus.

Allison demanded that they should all better have the best looking outfits ever, because she would not be seen with a lousily dressed team in public on Halloween. Alice guessed, Allison had been planning her outfit for the last year. The look Nicky gave her made it clear that Allison had been planning her outfit for this Halloween since the day she was born. It was a surprise to no one.  
Alice went costume-shopping with Andrew and the others. Kevin claimed he already had his outfit, but he tagged along anyways so they had to take two cars to the mall. He wouldn’t tell anybody what his costume was so Nicky guessed that he was planning on ditching the party, but Kevin still remained silent.

The mall was emptier than expected, which was a good thing. Ever since Christian had been to the last game, Alice hated being in big crowds where she could not see everyone and observe what exactly was going on. He made her paranoid and she absolutely hated it. The others must have noticed how queasy she felt, because they started to build a wall around her with their bodies, shielding her from every person that was at the mall, almost as if they were her bodyguards. People were staring at them, but the others did not seem to notice it. Neil, Andrew and Aaron stared through everyone they passed, almost as if they were the only ones visiting the mall. Kevin was used to all the stares and Alice saw more than one person snatching a photo of him, but nobody dared to come up to him and talk to him. And Nicky, well, Nicky enjoyed all the attention they got.

As soon as they found a decent-looking costume shop, Nicky started searching for his costume. “I want to go as a cheerleader. No, I will go as a cheerleader,“ he declared.

“Nicky, I don’t see how that’s supposed to be scary,“ Neil said, confused.

Aaron snorted. “Nicky in a short skirt is one of the scariest things I can imagine.“

“Rude, Aaron. I bet I look hotter than Katelyn in the uniform,“ Nicky shot back.

“Impossible.“

“By the way,“ Nicky chirped, “Can you ask Katelyn if any of the Vixens wants to lend me their uniform? I don’t think I will get a cheap one here.“

Andrew and Neil were looking at accessories, near to the others. Alice could hear Neil chuckling when he handed Andrew a pair of cat ears, attached to a hairband.

“No,“ Aaron answered and started turning around to make it clear that this conversation was over.

“You’re a dick!“ Nicky shouted, “I’ll just ask her myself.“

“Nicky, maybe you could go as a vampire cheerleader. You know, to make it scarier,“ Alice quickly interfered, before Aaron started insulting Nicky back.

“That’s a brilliant idea, Alice. What do you want to go as?“

“I don’t really know,“ Alice answered and shrugged, while Aaron slowly wandered off, looking at some of the costumes.

“Oh my God, you totally look like a faerie. Doesn’t she look like a faerie?“

“How are faeries scary?“ Neil asked from the accessories rack, looking even more confused than he did before.

“Neil, since when do you care so much about costumes?“

Neil just shrugged and held up a pair of fake vampire teeth. “Look what I found.“

“Oh amazing!“ Nicky exclaimed and clapped his hands, “Thanks Neil. Oh, Neil and Andrew, you two should totally have matching costumes!“ he suggested.

“No thanks,“ Andrew answered, still holding the hairband with the cat ears in his hands and Alice couldn’t help but imagine Andrew wearing it and had to hold back a laugh.

“Even better idea: Andrew and Aaron, you two should have matching outfits, so everybody confuses he two of you. I’m a genius,“ Nicky said with a pleased grin.

“Nicky, that’s the lamest idea I’ve ever heard,“ Aaron broke in, his face a plain mask.

“Just because you’ve got no sense of humor.“

“I want to be a zombie,“ Aaron clarified, “Zombies are cool.“

“Then you and Andrew can both be zombies! The costume would match both of your souls.“

Kevin, who had been mostly quiet since they had arrived at the mall, started snorting because of laughter. Andrew looked at Nicky like he wanted to kill him. Nicky just gave him a cheery smile and decided now was the best time to actually start looking for costumes to escape his cousin. Alice followed him with a quiet sigh into the mess of fabrics and mostly dark colors.

At the end Aaron settled for zombie, Nicky for vampire cheerleader, Andrew decided he wants to go as a murderer and bought fake blood.

“Your costume isn’t even really a costume, Andrew. You’re just more yourself.“

“Shut up, Nicky, or you’ll be my next victim.“

Again, Kevin started laughing and Alice just had to join him.

Neil wanted to go as a ghost, but Nicky didn’t allow him to just put on a bed sheet, so they ended up buying lots of white make up, hairspray and white clothes. Alice still hadn’t found a costume for herself. She thought about going as a witch, but discarded that idea quickly because it was so basic. She didn’t just want to have a cliché Halloween-costume. Nicky gave her about a dozen different outfits to try on, but none really matched her idea of a Halloween character.

“Why don’t you just go as a human doll or something like that?“ Kevin suggested at some point, slowly annoyed by the fact that they still were in the same shop and help up a dress that looked really old-fashioned, but still somehow cool.

Alice exchanged a quick look with Nicky and he nodded, excitement in his eyes. “Kevin, you are the best. A human doll is the best thing ever for your pale skin and prominent eyes. Why didn’t I think of it? Try this on immediately!“

He handed her the dress and pushed her to the vague direction of the dressing rooms. Alice obeyed and tried on the dress. It really looked great, complimenting her figure without showing too much of her boney legs and arms, making her look as if she actually had curves. Nicky was totally fond of the dress and they ended up buying it, along with a matching hair band and some make up.

Andrew, Neil and Aaron were waiting in front of the store for them. Andrew looked ready for murder when he demanded: “Ice cream. Now.“

“Definitely not,“ Kevin immediately shot back, “I’ve been here long enough. We have ice cream at our dorm, Andrew.“

“Kevin, I’m sure your beloved court can wait a few more minutes before you two are reunited,“ Andrew snapped.

Alice and Aaron exchanged a quick, surprised look. They hadn’t suspected Andrew’s bad mood and his sudden outbreak was extremely unexpected. Even Neil seemed a bit surprised by it. Alice guessed that Andrew was sick of everything taking so long and especially of the people at the mall, which didn’t know a thing about personal space and repeatedly bumped into Andrew, causing him to jump and almost pulling out his knives. Alice wished she could slap every person ignoring the fact that personal space is more important to some than it may be to them.

“Um, I promised Issie to have dinner with her today. I could drive back with Kevin and you guys can take the Maserati later,“ Alice suggested and attempted a smile.

Andrew quickly nodded, and left them without a goodbye. The others were quick to follow, rushing their goodbyes and smiles. Alice and Kevin left the mall together, making their ways to where Kevin had parked his Lexus. At first it was extremely awkward, sitting next to Kevin, alone in the car. Nobody said anything and apparently, Kevin Day was not a fan of radio. And for a few moments, the sound of the motor was the only sound in the car.

“Well…“ Alice started after a while, focusing her eyes on the road, “What are you dressing up as for Halloween anyways? Or is it a secret?“

She could not believe that Kevin actually smirked. It suited him well. “I’m going as Andrew.“

A grin emerged on Alice’s face and she looked over to Kevin. “As Andrew?“

“Yup,“ Kevin answered and shot Alice a quick mischievous look.

“Very scary,“ Alice said, chuckling a little bit. Just imagining Kevin dressed up all in black with black armbands, a grumpy face, perhaps a fake cigarette, made Alice crack up. It was hilarious to think about.

“I know right?“ Kevin agreed, “Scariest person I could think of,“ he added, only half joking.

“Not Riko?“ It was out of Alice’s mouth before she could stop it. She immediately regretted it and wished she could somehow suck the words back in.

Kevin’s face lost all its color and it made Alice feel even worse.

“Oh shit, fuck, shit I’m so sorry Kevin, I shouldn’t have said that- Just forget I opened my mouth, alright? Just forget about it.“

“No, no, it’s… It’s alright. You don’t need to apologize,“ Kevin responded slowly, but not hurt or angry at all.

She looked at Kevin and actually believed his words. He said them like believed them himself, like it was actually okay what she said. Like he was actually alright. Her eyes were stuck at the black chess piece on Kevin's cheek. Queen. Sometimes, she swear she could still see the small 2 underneath it. Maybe sometimes, Kevin could see it as well.

“How are you… How are you doing now that Riko is dead?“ Alice asked very carefully, “I mean, it’s already been a while, but still.“

Kevin took some time to answer. “Sometimes good, sometimes terrible. Technically I know he was a bad guy and that he was the reason for almost everything terrible that happened in my life, but some stupid part of me loved him.“

“Stockholm syndrome,“ Alice commented, trying to remain as calm as she could. She felt so incredibly sorry for Kevin, but she did not want to show how much she pitied him. She doubted it would help him.

“What?“

“You never heard of it?“

“No,“ Kevin answered.

It surprised Alice, considering Kevin was such a smart guy. “It’s… Well it’s kind of hard to explain. It’s like when a child gets kidnapped and it starts believing that their kidnapper just wants the best for them. Or when you start believing your abuser is just doing it for your own best. Stuff like that,“ she tried to explain.

“Oh.“

“Yes.“

Kevin shot her a quick look. “Have you ever experienced it yourself?“

Alice shrugged. “Actually, I don’t know. Maybe as a young child. Most of the time I hated the Foster families that were bad to me,“ she explained. 

“Were there…“ Kevin started, “Were there many bad Foster families?“

He tried to be as careful as he could, Alice knew that and she appreciated it. She assumed Kevin never really had anyone to have a sensitive conversation with. He did not trust the other Foxes enough and Neil and Andrew weren’t the most sensible people. Talking to Wymack still must be difficult and Riko obviously had never been a choice. Some part of Alice also guessed that Thea was not the best person to speak to. She still was, after all, a Raven.

“At least more bad ones than good ones,“ Alice answered honestly.

“I’m sorry to hear that,“ Kevin said, his voice warm and honest.

“You’ve probably been through worse than I have.“

“Maybe,“ Kevin said.

“Maybe,“ Alice agreed.

For a while they remained quiet, both stuck in their own thoughts. Alice wondered why Kevin decided to open up to her. She didn’t know, but it made her glad that she did.

“I didn’t drink alcohol for a whole week now. Doesn’t sound like much, but ever since I’ve come to the Foxes it’s the most time I’ve ever spent not drinking,“ Kevin told Alice. 

“This is really good, Kevin,“ Alice said, smiling at Kevin.

“I knew what I was doing wasn’t truly helping, but you kind of pushing me really helped.“ He seemed extremely uncomfortable talking about such serious things. Alice wanted to reach out to him, put a hand on his shoulder and comfort him, but she resisted the urge to do so.

“Glad I could help,“ she just said.

“Me too.“

The silence returned for a few moments.

“Maybe you should join Neil, Andrew and me at our night practice,“ Kevin suggested.

“You guys do night practice?“

Kevin nodded, seeming far more comfortable talking about something he usually talked about: Exy. “Last year we did it every night. Now only two or three times per week. Sometimes a bunch of the others join us. You really have potential, you know. I was very sceptic when Coach recruited you, but it turns out you really got talent. Maybe with our help you could become pro.“

Alice was extremely surprised. He was, after all, Kevin Day. Him suggesting this was basically the Court offering her a contract.

“You think I could play pro?“ she asked quietly.

“Sure, why not?“

“I’ve never thought about it,“ Alice answered honestly. Girls like Alice weren’t allowed to dream big.

“Well, maybe you should think about it now,“ Kevin answered.

They return to silence once again as they arrive at Fox Tower. Kevin doesn’t seem to notice anything, but one particular car just sprung into Alice’s eyesight.

“Shit.“ Her heart started racing uncontrollably.

“What?“ Kevin asked.

“It’s…“ Alice had to stop. She tried to control her breathing. “There’s the car. Of my Foster dad. Coach told you about him?“

Kevin nodded quickly, his expression angry, but worried.

“Do you see him anywhere?“ he asked her.

Alice quickly looked around, her eyes scanning her environment. All she heard was her heart beating, her blood rushing through her veins. 

“No, no, I don’t think so. Maybe he’s in the car. I can’t see what’s inside.“

“Shit, alright, stay calm. Put on this cap,“ Kevin reached to the backseat and then handed her a cap which said USC Trojans. In a normal situation, Alice would’ve joked about that, but she didn’t quite feel like joking. She rather felt like hiding in Kevin’s car until Christian was gone.

“Alright,“ Kevin started and looked at Alice, his eyes serious, but calm, “Now we well just quickly get into the tower. Don’t worry about your costume, I’ll get it later and bring it to your room. You listening?“

Alice nodded, but she was unable to focus. She was simply staring at the car, fear blocking her muscles.

“I will text Coach. We will make him leave, alright? Now just get out of the car as quickly as you can and into the tower.“

Kevin got out of the car, but Alice just could not move. He went over to her door, ripped it open and pulled her out of the car. Alice pulled the cap down over her face and they quickly start moving, Kevin trying to shield her with his own body, just as the others did earlier at the mall.

“Alice!“

Alice started running and running and running and didn’t stop until she was kneeling on the ground of her own dorm room, breathing heavily, feeling like she was about to black out. Kevin was behind her all the time and as soon as he closed the door behind her, he got out his phone and started dialing. It took some time for Alice to realize he was calling Wymack. Kevin put him on speaker.

“Kevin? What’s wrong?“

“He’s here. Alice’s psycho Foster dad. At Fox Tower. I managed to get her inside, but he saw us,“ Kevin explained as neutral and quick as he could.

“I’ll be there in 10. You gonna help me kick the psycho’s ass off campus?“

“That’s what I was planning.“

Hearing them talk calmed Alice down. Her breathing returned to normal and she sat back down on her feet.

“Good,“ Wymack said, “Alice, you alright?“

“I’m fine,“ she answered.

For some reason that made Kevin roll his eyes and Wymack say: “Not another one of those. Meet you in front of the tower in 10, Kevin,“ he added.

“Alright. Bye Coach,“ Kevin answered and then hung up.

“Isn’t it weird calling your dad Coach?“ Sheena asked from the couch. Alice looked up to see her staring at them with big interest. She hadn’t noticed her before.

“None of your business, Sheena,“ Kevin answered harshly, “You really alright, Alice? Should I get anyone? Call Andrew?“

“I’m alright, really Kevin,“ Alice answered and then put a hand on Kevin’s arm, “But thank you, I mean it.“

“No issue. I’ll bring you your stuff once he’s gone,“ Kevin promised and got up.

“Thanks,“ Alice said.

He left the room without saying anything further. Alice felt incredibly relieved and thankful. Without Kevin, she would not have made it to Fox Tower.

“So, what was that about?“ Sheena interrupted her thoughts, “Psycho Foster dad?“

“My old Foster dad’s stalking me,“ Alice explained, “Kind of a long story.“

“Nice.“

“I know.“

She got up and walked into the kitchen, pouring herself a glass of water and sighed. It was terrible to not feel safe anymore at a place that was supposed to feel like home.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I HOPE YOU GUYS ENJOYED THIS CHAPTER! It's one of my favourite chapters so far and I always enjoy writing stuff about my favourite anxious boy Kevin. I got the idea of Kevin dressing up as Andrew from a Tumblr post. Please leave some Kudos and comments if you enjoyed the chapter and I hope you're looking forward to the next one!


	14. This Is Halloween

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Time for Halloween with the Foxes.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> WARNING: This chapter contains references to emotional and physical abuse. And there's alcohol. Also references to stalking.
> 
> I'm sorry for disappearing AGAIN, but I just really wanted to post this chapter on Halloween. So I guess Happy Halloween and enjoy the chapter!

Halloween was neither Alice’s favorite time of the year, nor her least favorite. Some of her foster parents had forbidden her to dress up and walk around the neighborhood, but Alice had never really minded this. At PSU, Halloween was a big thing. The usually very orange campus was decorated like a huge haunted house and more black joined the whole scenery. Alice thought it was a nice thing to do, but she did not quite get why one would make such an effort simply for Halloween.

The girls were slowly getting ready for the party later. Wymack had spared them their afternoon practice, well knowing that they would only complain about it anyways, since all the other sports teams had the afternoon off, but he did grumble something about “and you call yourself champions“ and “lazy brats“ before releasing them.

Alice and Issie sat on the couch, the TV playing in the background, Issie’s feet on Alice’s lap. She had gotten used to the other girl placing her feet on Alice’s lap, playing with her hair when she was bored or putting her head on Alice’s shoulder when they were watching TV. Sheena sat on a chair which she had moved from the kitchen into the living room. The room smelled like nail polish, as Issie was painting her nails black so they would match her costume.

“I will be the best witch you have ever seen,“ she declared and threw her hair over her shoulder in an arrogant manner.

“Witch is kind of a boring costume, don’t you think?“ Sheena asked, in her usual annoyed tone and looked up from the book she had been reading. Sheena didn’t care too much about TV or about having a conversation.

“What are you going as?“

“A fallen angel,“ Sheena explained and raised a challenging eyebrow towards Issie.

Issie smirked. “I’d say the costume fits you, but I don’t think you have ever been an angel.“

Sheena just rolled her eyes. Ever since Alice had kind of told her about her foster dad, Sheena has become a little bit more bearable. Alice did not want Sheena to feel sorry for her, but apparently she did. She still was an annoying bitch, but she wasn’t as aggressive and hateful as she used to be. Apparently, people could change. But Alice did not miss out on the curious looks Sheena gave her from time to time. There was more to her changed behavior, Alice knew it.

“So Alice,“ Sheena started after a while and Alice sighed quietly. Here it comes, she thought, “What about that foster father of yours? You never really bothered to explain to me why he made you lose your shit.“

Alice bit her lip and stared at her hands. Sharing the story with her brothers, with Nicky, with Wymack had been one thing. Sharing it with the freshmen was another. It was safe to say that Alice had not recovered from it yet, she was still hearing Christian’s voice in her sleep, she was still feeling the fear, the fright she experienced. Sheena did not deserve to take a part in her recovery.

“And? I’m waiting,“ Sheena pushed her.

Alice opened her mouth, but Issie started talking before she could.

“Sheena,“ she started, her voice sounding pissed, matching her facial expression, “Why don’t I tell you a little bit about my past?“

Sheena looked confused, “If you want to,“ she answered.

“Yes, I do. And you should respect that Alice does not want to, you insensitive prick.“

Alice had to hide a smile. She felt incredibly thankful for Issie interfering like that. Somehow, Issie always knew exaclty how to shut people up. Alice would only have started getting angry and screaming.

Sheena looked incredibly offended, but Issie didn’t give her the chance to respond.

“When I was thirteen, my parents threw me out of the house. They were useless, constantly drunk or on drugs and they hated me and my little sister. I don’t know what happened to Louisa. I just know that one day they told me to pack my things and leave. I moved in with my boyfriend. He was eighteen and shared a flat with two friends. He was a total dick.“

Issie made a quick pause to let Alice and Sheena process what she had just told them. Issie. Thirteen. Thrown out. Boyfriend. Eighteen. Dick. 

“When I was fifteen, I got pregnant. My boyfriend thought it wasn’t his, but he was the only person I had sex with. Nevertheless, he forced me to get an abortion. He threatened to kill me, if I kept the child,“ Issie’s expression got a little bit darker as she was thinking of her unborn child. Alice wanted to hug her very badly.

“After the abortion, I started playing Exy in my school to get rid of all the frustration and anger I had inside of me. I went through a pretty dark phase. Because of my boyfriend I did a lot of dumb things. I drank alcohol, I did drugs and he was constantly cheating on me. All his friends treated me like shit. I started hating him, but he was all I had. As soon as I turned eighteen, he threw me out. At least he was kind enough to let me live with him until I was eighteen, otherwise I would’ve been even more fucked. My family had moved away and I was homeless. I didn’t have any friends and I didn’t trust my teachers or any officials enough to tell them about my problems. That’s how I ended up sleeping with a lot of older men. In return for sex, they let me stay at their houses for a while. Some of them even bought me stuff. Wymack recruited me after my coach had sent him a bunch of my tapes. I have just recently found out that the person who truly wanted me here was Neil, Kevin was totally against recruiting me.“

Issie looked at Sheena and made a pause. “I’m okay with talking about my past, Sheena. Some people aren’t.“

Sheena did not say a word after Issie was done, which surprised Alice, because, well, it was Sheena, insensitive as always. Not for the first time, Alice asked herself, why Sheena was with the Foxes. She knew that Sheena had scars, but she didn’t know how she got them. Whatever had happened in her past, it had led to Sheena being a bitch, but Alice guessed she wasn’t really in the position to judge. She did it anyways.

When Issie was done painting her nails, she looked at Alice and smiled. “You want me to paint your nails as well, Allie?“

“Allie?“ Alice asked and raised her eyebrows.

Issie smirked. “I thought, I’d give it a try. No?“

“No,“ Alice replied and grinned, “But you can paint my nails.“

Issie moved closer to Alice and carefully took her hands. She started painting her nails in white, supporting Alice’s costume. They started talking about irrelevant things, for example Hector’s new haircut or the hickeys on Neil’s neck. Alice could feel that Issie wanted to ask her about her foster father, but she didn’t. Alice appreciated it a lot.

The girls got ready together in their room, putting on make up and doing their hair, but got interrupted by a loud knock. It was Nicky, begging for Alice to come over and help the boys with their costumes. Before Alice could answer, Nicky took her hand and dragged her over to Andrew’s room, where the boys were struggling with their costumes.

Kevin was missing, which Alice found quite amusing, because apparently his costume still was a secret. This meant, that Aaron and Nicky had to drive to the club with Andrew, Neil and Alice in the Maserati.

Alice was feeling uncomfortable, or rather afraid, because Christian was still out there, still looking for her, but her brothers were with her, they were there to protect her.

Aaron was annoyed. It was a “Foxes only“ party, which meant that he didn’t get to bring Katelyn, which meant that he was complaining about everything. He was acting like a little child, whose favorite toy had been taking away. Alice found it oddly adorable.

His bad mood amused Nicky. “Well, boo hoo, your fault if you don’t get a girlfriend on the team like, literally everybody else. Except me. I don’t do girlfriends. Or Kevin. But Kevin’s a special case.“

“And who, do you imagine, would that be?“ Aaron asked, raising an annoyed eyebrow at Nicky, “There’s literally no single girl on the team who is not related to me.“

“Um, Issie?“ Nicky asked, as if she were the obvious choice.

“Who?“

Alice rolled her eyes, knowing that Aaron did, in fact, know who Issie is, but he just chose to ignore the freshmen, as always.

“She’s my roommate, Aaron,“ Alice explained dryly.

“Apropos roommate,“ Nicky joined in on the topic, “Alice, are Sheena and Jack fucking? Allison, Matt and I have a lot of money riding on that.“

“Why do you bother betting on the freshmen?“ Andrew asked, disgusted.

“Well, betting on you and Neil kind of got old since you’re a couple now,“ Nicky explained and grinned mischievously.

“We’re not.“

“Oh, shut up, Andrew. Alright. Alice. Are they?“ Nicky turned to Alice, his dark eyes glowing with curiosity.

“Hell do I know,“ Alice answered and shrugged, “I try to spend as little time with them as possible.“

Nicky started laughing out loud. “Yeah, they’re both assholes,“ he agreed, “I wouldn’t hang out with them either. Neil, what has Jack called you last practice?“

“A talentless fuckbag,“ Neil answered from the front seat. 

“What a creative child,“ Nicky sighed, “I’m still waiting for the day you finally slap that bitch. But tell me before you do, so I can film it.“

Neil didn’t answer, but Alice could see him smiling.

“Does anyone know why Kevin has just miraculously disappeared?“ Nicky asked, keeping up the conversation, “What is he planning?“

“No idea,“ Neil answered.

“Probably drinking himself mindless somewhere in a dark corner,“ Aaron answered grumpily.

“He has gotten better,“ Alice protested passionately.

“Yeah sure,“ Aaron rolled his eyes, “Where is he then? Playing Exy?“

Alice started to lose her patience. “God, Aaron, stop being a dick!“

For one second, everybody seemed a bit confused. Alice had never before insulted a member of her family. Alice worried, she might took it too far, but then Nicky started laughing from the bottom of his heart. Neil joined him, a little bit more quietly and even Andrew smirked. Aaron gave them all an annoyed look, but didn’t seem too offended.

“So, where is he?“ he asked.

“Why would I know?“ Alice responded, losing the edge in her voice and relaxing again. 

She had to hide a smile, because she did know why Kevin had disappeared and she was really looking forward to Andrew’s reaction to Kevin’s costume.

They arrived at the club and most of the other Foxes were already there. They had saved them a big table, so they could sit if they wanted to. The Foxes looked amazing and Alice was impressed by the creativity they all put into their costumes. Even though all of them looked great, Alice couldn’t drag her stare away from Farid. He was dressed as some sort of Egyptian pharaoh, in all gold and blue, with smudged eyeliner around his eyes and some skin showing. He didn’t look particularly scary, but oh, he did look good.

Alice sat down in between Aaron and Matt and actually ended up talking to Matt, who complimented her costume. He was dressed as some sort of god and the lightning he drew on his cheek hinted that he was supposed to be Zeus, which meant that Dan was probably dressed as Hera. Alice just smiled and chose not to inform the two that Zeus and Hera had an incredibly unhealthy marriage and that Hera was a jealous bitch and Zeus a cheating asshole and just chose to appreciate the effort they made and the fact that it was a cute idea. Matt told her that they were always trying to somehow have matching costumes, although they knew it was incredibly cheesy. The wide grin on his face told Alice that he liked being cheesy.

All of the Foxes’ conversation died within a second, as a tall person, dressed all black, stepped to their table. It was Kevin, but it wasn’t. He attempted spray-dyeing his hair blonde and failed, he wore black armbands and brown contact-lenses. He had even tried covering up his tattoo with make up. He had done a poor job, but he was unmistakably dressed as Andrew.

Nicky was the first to start laughing and the other old Foxes were quick to join him, except Renee, who had to hide a chuckle, and Andrew. Eventually, the freshmen got it and started laughing as well. Kevin looked incredibly pleased with himself and sat down on Matt’s other side.

Andrew’s facial expression was priceless. He looked like he was about to kill either Kevin or himself or everybody else. Kevin just gave him a challenging grin and started a conversation with Matt. Everybody else started talking again, but Alice just couldn’t get the grin off her face.

It surprises her that she feels so relaxed, even though she is out in public, but she can feel Aaron’s strong shoulder right next to her, reminding her of the fact that her brothers are there to protect her. They made her a promise. And Alice trusted them more than anyone else in this world. It’s not like there had ever been truly trustworthy people in her life.

All evening, her brothers didn’t let Alice get out of their sight. They made sure that one of them was always with her. When she went dancing, Aaron tagged along, always remaining a few meters next to her. When she sat down at the table to have a drink or just a pause, Andrew was there and most of the time Kevin as well, drinking water and watching the people around him.

They were guarding her as if it were the most important thing for them this evening. Alice even noticed that neither of them was drinking a lot. It filled her heart with an unfamiliar warmth, knowing both of them put her safety first this evening. She didn’t know how she could ever thank them enough for this. 

At some point, others noticed the twins monitoring Alice.

“Why are your brothers so over-protective today?“ Issie asked Alice when they were on the dance floor together, Aaron talking to Nicky just a few steps away from them.

“What?“ Alice shouted, partly because the music was so loud, partly because she didn’t know how to respond to that question.

“One of them is just always around. I’m afraid Aaron will kill me any second if I get too close to you!“ Issie explained, louder this time, her expression concerned, as if she feared Aaron might actually attack her.

“Oh,“ Alice just said.

“Any reason for that?“ Farid joined the conversation.

“No,“ Alice answered just too quickly, “I mean yes, but…“

“You don’t want to talk about it,“ Issie finished the sentence for her, probably remembering the conversation from earlier and how she handled the situation with Sheena. Farid wasn’t like Sheena, but Alice doubted Issie cared.

She just shrugged, hoping they would drop the issue.

“You know that if you need to talk, we’re always there for you, right?“ Farid carefully put his hand on Alice’s shoulder and gave her a warm smile.

Alice just nodded and smiled, hoping they would just focus on something else. Some part of her really wanted to tell them. Both have opened up about their pasts to her and Alice really admired how both of them have been through so much and are somehow dealing with it and just don’t let their struggles show. It would only be fair to tell them and she felt like she could trust them, but some part of her still hesitated.

After dancing with Issie and Farid for a while, Alice left the two and returned to the Foxes’ table where she found Andrew and Neil, lost in a quiet conversation, and Dan, Matt, Allison and Magnus, who were joking and drowning shots of pure vodka.

“Hey,“ Dan greeted Alice with a cheery smile, “Everything alright?“

“Everything’s perfect,“ Alice answered and sat down next to Dan, not wanting to disturb Andrew and Neil.

“Good,“ Dan said and held up a full shot glass, “Care to join us?“

Alice shrugged, grinned and took the glass. She joined Dan, Matt, Allison and Magnus in playing “Never Have I Ever“ and ended up drinking more than she originally had planned. Matt proved himself to be a monster when it came to drinking and drowned every shot without flinching the tiniest bit. It was almost impressive.

Eventually Kevin returned to the table, which seemed to make Magnus incredibly uncomfortable. He respected Kevin a lot and feared to do the wrong thing whenever Kevin was around, so he quickly disappeared as soon as Kevin sat down at the table.

“You scared him away, Kevin,“ Alice mocked him.

“My costume is pretty scary, right?“ Kevin shot back.

“Fuck off, Day,“ Andrew shouted from his seat.

Kevin just smiled and Alice was once again surprised by him in a positive kind of way. Kevin had already smiled or grinned so often this evening, which just showed that it was a good day for him, that he was doing okay, that he was healing. So far, it was also a good day for Alice. They were okay. Things were good. People heal.

Alice somehow ended up drunk in the freshman boys’ dorm room, playing Truth or Dare and drinking even more alcohol. It was a wonder, she hadn’t puked yet. In fact, she was doing great considering the amount of alcohol she had in her blood system. All of the freshmen were in the dorm room, but Sheena and Jack had disappeared into the bedroom. Hector claimed they were fucking.

Even in Alice’s drunken state, she managed to always choose dare, afraid the others might ask her questions about her past and that’s how Hector ended up daring her to kiss Issie.

“Oh my God,“ Alice started, “Are you for real? Are you so desperate?“

Hector just grinned, “Is this another ‘Hector you’re so sexist’ lecture?“

“Maybe,“ Alice answered, all ready to have another argument about this.

“It’s a game, Alice,“ Hector said, “Just kiss her.“

“Okay,“ Alice answered, not wanting to kill the mood, “But I dare you to kiss Magnus.“

“Alright,“ Hector agreed without hesitating at all.

“Alright?“

“Alright“

“Alright,“ Alice sighed and leaned over to kiss Issie.

Their kiss wasn’t as passionate as their first kiss. It was all drunk tongues and being watched by the others, but Alice couldn’t deny that it was a nice kiss. Issie was a nice kisser. Those were facts. Some part of Alice wished that the others weren’t in that room, but they were and so she broke the kiss.

To her surprise, Farid looked completely chilled. She had expected him to be hurt, or at least a little bit unhappy with it, but he didn’t. Maybe it was because he was drunk. Maybe it was because it was a game. Maybe he just didn’t care who Alice was kissing. She felt oddly offended by that thought.

Hector and Magnus kissed and their heated kiss turned into a heated make-out session, which ended the game. Issie, Farid and Alice quickly disappeared into the kitchen, not wanting to disturb Hector and Magnus, but also not necessarily wanting to awkwardly sit next to them, while they were making out. Alice had always thought of Hector as kind of homophobic and this really surprised her.

Issie started making tea for the three of them and whilst Alice hopped onto the kitchen counter, Farid got three cups for them. Being with Issie and Farid felt natural, spending time with them felt natural and Alice’s thoughts from earlier appeared in her mind again. Her stomach clenched itself together as she made her decision. And as the water started boiling, she started telling her story.

“Andrew and Aaron are acting so weird because my old foster father is stalking me. He didn’t want me to go to PSU to meet my family and locked me in my room. I ran away and came here. Now he is here as well. He was at a game, he was at Fox Tower fa few days ago. Wymack knows about him and he’s trying to work against him as good as he can, but my foster dad’s a cop. It’s not that easy to get rid of him.“

Once Alice was finished, both Farid and Issie stared at her, not quite knowing what to say. Issie handed her a cup of tea. Farid looked a little bit pale. Perhaps it is because most of the Foxes have left their pasts behind when they came to PSU. Alice’s past was still haunting her.

“He has been here?“ Farid finally asked, breaking the uncomfortable silence.

Alice nodded. She wondered, if the thought of Christian near by feared them. Worried them. She wondered, if they cared as much as Aaron and Andrew, but then again, nobody could ever care like them. People called her brothers heartless, but everything they did proved the opposite, people just didn’t understand that.

“Bastard,“ Farid commented dryly and took a big sip of his tea.

“Fucking bastard,“ Issie agreed energetically, “I’m… I am so sorry, Alice. What do you say in this kind of situation? If I see him, I will finish him.“

“Oh believe me, you won’t get the chance if Andrew and Aaron see him first,“ Alice responded.

“Your brothers are almost starting to grow on me,“ Farid declared, “You trust them that they will protect you?“

“As good as they can,“ Alice answered honestly.

“They better,“ Farid mumbled into his cup.

All three were quiet for a while, sipping their tea, stuck in their own thoughts. Alice felt relieved, now that she had told Farid and Issie about Christian. They didn’t know the details, they didn’t know about the nights she spent crying herself to sleep, wishing for nothing more than to be out of this room, they didn’t know about her failed attempts to escape, but they knew what worried her.

A moan sounded from the living room and Alice exchanged a quick look with Issie and Farid.

“Has this happened before?“ Issie asked with a grin on her face.

“Never,“ Farid responded surprised, “I didn’t even know they were… gay. Or bi. Or well, whatever. Into boys.“

“Well, what a pleasant surprise. I hope Jack and Sheena those homophobic assholes hear them.“

The moaning got louder and Alice could feel her cheeks heated up.

“Well,“ she said, “I hope they do, but I don’t need to. Wanna take the party to our room? Farid, you can sleep on our couch if you want to.“

Farid agreed and they quickly left the room to move into Alice and Issie’s dorm room. After sitting on the couch for a short while, Issie excused herself and went to bed, leaving Alice and Farid alone on the couch. She could feel Farid growing a tiny bit nervous.

“So,“ he cleared his throat, “That was a fun evening.“

“Yeah,“ Alice agreed and smiled, “It was.“

“You should hang out with us a little bit more often,“ Farid suggested carefully and gave her a hopeful look.

“Maybe.“

Farid took a deep breath. “I mean, Andrew and Aaron won’t kill you if you hang out with us a little bit more often.“

Alice thought about that for a second. “Probably not,“ she assented.

“I know, they’re probably the most important thing for you right now. And I understand and respect that. You know, I want you to be happy,“ Farid told her, but he avoided looking into her eyes.

“Yes,“ Alice said and made a short pause, letting his words sink in, “I guess I know that.“

“Good,“ he responded and finally managed to look into her eyes. His brown eyes were intense and his smudged eyeliner only supported that. Alice could feel herself getting lost, but without feeling lost. A whole maze slumbered inside of these eyes and Alice was eager to figure out the right way.

“Is it okay if I hold your hand?“ Farid asked after a while, sounding extremely shy.

Alice didn’t hesitate. “Yes Farid. That is okay.“

And Farid took her hand and it was okay. And Alice moved closer to him and it was okay. And Farid carefully draped his arm around Alice’s shoulders and it was okay. And Alice put her head on his chest, hearing his heart beat like the wings of a nervous bird, and it was okay. And eventually they fell asleep, cuddled up next to each other. And it was okay.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> How to: perfect Halloween party (a guide by Alice Minyard)
> 
> \- flirting with your two best (and only) friends  
> \- sober Kevin  
> \- protective Twinyards
> 
> I HOPE YOU GUYS LIKED THE CHAPTER! If you did, please leave some spooky Kudos and even spookier comments. Tell me, are you Team Farid or Team Issie? Or Team Alice doesn't need anybody? Team Issie AND Farid? Team Kevin? So many possibilities, oh well. I know, Issie and Farid are a lot in this fanfiction but I just fell in love with them and can't keep my fingers from writing their names. This is so totally me, by the way. I write a fanfiction about a third Minyard and what do I do? Write about two original characters and Kevin all the time. I'm the worst.


	15. Broken Army

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Alice joins night practice. Kevin is on edge.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> No triggerwarning for this one, I guess? Tell me if I missed anything. I hope you enjoy this chapter!

The sound of two people quietly talking woke up Alice the next day. Waking up to people talking was not unusual; none of her foster families had ever particularly cared much about her getting the right amount of sleep. It was the fact that they were talking quietly, which surprised Alice. It didn’t take her long until she figured out it was Issie and Farid who were talking in the kitchen. A smile appeared on Alice’s lips. Right. Halloween. Issie. Farid.

She decided that it wasn’t time to get up yet. Alice rolled onto her back, her eyes focusing on the ceiling. It was peaceful. It was too quiet to hear what Issie and Farid were talking about, but the sounds of their voices alone filled Alice with a feeling of safety. Telling them about Christian was the right thing to do. They were her friends. She could trust them.

After a while, Alice decided that it was definitely time to get up. She didn’t take off her make up the other night and felt disgusting. She got up as quietly as she could and escaped into the bathroom to make herself look like a human again. In sweatpants, wet hair and a loose grey top, softly concealing the sharp lines of her body, she went into the kitchen, which smelt like coffee and omelette. Farid was pouring himself a cup, only wearing pants and socks. His bare back was a nice sight. Issie was sitting on the counter, her legs dangling, one cup in her hand, the other one right next to her. As she saw Alice, she started smiling.

“Good morning sweetie,“ Issie chirped and handed Alice a cup filled with black coffee.

“Thanks,“ she answered, took the coffee and smiled at Issie.

Farid turned around, his cup in his right hand, a bottle of milk in his left. The liquid in his cup looked more like brownish milk and not like actual coffee. Alice thought it was adorable.

“Breakfast?“ Farid asked.

The three of them spent a lovely morning, eating the omelette Issie and Farid had prepared, sipping coffee, talking about different things, laughing and smiling. Neither mentioned anything about Alice’s past. Or Farid’s past. Or Issie’s past. Their pasts didn’t matter. What mattered were their futures, bright and filled with hope. At least that’s what they hoped for.

After a while Farid decided, it was time to return to his own dorm and see whether or not Hector and Magnus were covered in dozens of hickeys. Issie betted on them having exactly four each. Farid betted on more. Alice did not bet at all. The girls were left alone in their dorm and Issie decided to take a quick shower.

The Foxes had the day off so Alice decided she should use the day to study, since she had the feeling that she was not only a few steps but rather a few miles behind in all of her classes. Sheena returned at some point and joined Alice in studying. She didn’t lose a single word about the last night. Issie joined the two after some time as well. The girls spent the day studying in their dorm.

After their dinner, Issie turned on a DVD and settled in front of the TV. Alice wanted to join her but an unexpected knock on the girls’ door distracted her. Sheena opened the door.

“Alice, it’s for you!“

Confused, Alice walked over to the door. Kevin, Neil and Andrew were standing behind the door, wearing gym clothes and blank expressions on their faces.

“Um, hi?“

“Time for practice,“ Kevin proclaimed and crossed his arms in front of his chest.

“Um, what?“ Alice asked, blinking confused.

“Night practice. I told you you’d join us.“

Alice gave Andrew a quick look, but couldn’t read anything out of his expression. He didn’t give her his explicit permission but she guessed the fact that the boys were standing on the other side of her dorm room was permission enough.

“Alright,“ she said, “Let me just quickly grab a jacket.“

They took Andrew’s Maserati and Alice was surprised to find Matt waiting next to the expensive car.

“Matt wants to go pro after graduation,“ Neil explained after seeing Alice’s confused face.

Matt gave Alice a quick grin. “Night practice has become a regular thing for the four of us.“

“The others tag along when they want to,“ Kevin added.

“Also the other freshmen?“ Alice asked.

“Don’t be ridiculous,“ Kevin snorted and rolled his eyes.

“I thought you think Jack has potential,“ Neil said with a bitchy undertone.

“He has,“ Kevin responded calmly, “Doesn’t mean he’s worth my time.“

The drive to the Foxhole Court was short and filled with light banter and easy conversations. Alice didn’t think she would ever get to see Matt, Neil and Kevin carrying such a light conversation, but here she was, right in the middle of their talk. Andrew reminded silent the whole time.

But as soon as their arrived at court, everything light and easy was gone. Alice knew the boys were good during the day, but they were brilliant in the night. Especially Neil who must have been holding himself back in favor of being a vice captain and managing the freshmen with their hot tempers. All of them, even Andrew, played as if they were ready to kill. Alice wondered if that was how they won against the Ravens.

Kevin was a true nightmare. Matt, Neil and Andrew focused on themselves, but Kevin focused on Alice. She was his new project and Kevin was an unforgiving teacher. He worked her to the bone by starting to teach her Raven drills, by shouting at her, forcing her to do the same thing over and over again until she finally did it right. Once he was finally done with her, Alice’s whole body was shaking, her legs weak, her arms almost not working anymore. But Kevin gave her a quick nod.

“Not too horrible, Minyard,“ he said.

“Fuck off, Day,“ Alice responded, still breathing heavily.

The next night Kevin, Neil and Andrew picked her up again. And the night after that. And the one after that.

One night, Kevin was in an extremely bad mood, even worse than usual. It was Alice who had to suffer from it. Alice didn’t ask why, simply took a few deep breaths and tried to please Kevin so he wouldn’t get even more upset. Neil and Andrew seemed unimpressed by Kevin’s behavior and their lack of worry allowed Alice to remain calm as well. It couldn’t be anything too serious if Andrew and Neil weren’t alarmed.

It was always obvious when Kevin wasn’t alright, especially when he was playing Exy. Kevin was an aggressive player, but when he had a bad night, he was almost brutal. It was the smartest thing to stay out of his way, but sometimes Matt didn’t make it. Even though the boys did get along off court, the situation was more difficult on court.

Most nights it was simply the five of them, but sometimes Dan or Aaron came with them. On one night even Allison and Renee joined them, but never any of the freshmen, which lead to conversation between Alice, Dan and Matt when Alice joined them on their trip back to Fox Tower in Matt’s truck.

“Can I ask you guys something?“ Alice asked after a while.

“Sure,“ Matt answered.

“What is your problem with the other freshmen?“

“What do you mean?“ Dan asked and turned around to look at Alice.

Alice shrugged. “You barely hang out with them, they’re not invited to night practice. Sometimes it seems like you guys forget that they exist.“

She wondered when she had gotten so passionate about her teammates. Perhaps it was because of Halloween. Perhaps because of Issie and Farid and the friendship in between Alice and them. She didn’t know.

“See, night practice is a very personal thing, especially for Kevin,“ Matt started to explain, “Don’t trust the ‘training people for pro’ bullshit, that’s only a small part of it. During his night practices with Andrew he learned how to play Exy with his right hand. He also learned how to play again with his left hand, when Neil joined them. The court and especially at night is some kind of safe place for Kevin. His safe haven. Him asking you to join us does not only mean he wants to train you, but it also means that he trusts you. Normally, Andrew is in charge, but this thing belongs to Kevin. He’s simply not that far with the other freshmen yet. I’m sure if we make it to the semifinals again this year, he’ll start forcing them to come as well, but so far, it’s only the people he trusts.“

It was quiet for a while after his explanation. Alice needed a few seconds to process what Matt had just told her. 

“Alright,“ she said after a few more moments.

“Alright,“ Matt agreed and shared a quick smile with Dan.

As soon as they arrived at Fox Tower and got out of Matt’s truck, Matt and Dan shielded Alice with their own bodies. She could tell how protective both of them got as soon as they left the car. It felt good to know that the other Foxes were willing to protect her as well and not only her own family.

A few night practices later, both Kevin and Neil were in particular bad moods. In just one week the Foxes would welcome the Ravens at the Foxhole Court once again. The tension was remarkable at normal practices as well. Kevin was extremely tense the whole time, tending to snap easily. Neil was in a constant bad mood, basically fighting with Jack the whole time, snarling insults at his teammates, throwing orders at the freshmen. Dan let him get through with it. Riko was gone, but their trauma wasn’t.

At one extremely horrible practice, Kevin completely freaked out and started a fight with Farid, which Dan and Matt had to break up. Farid’s nose was bleeding and Alice was angry, like she had never been before.

“Kevin, what the fuck is your problem? He has nothing to do with your personal problems and it’s not fair you’re venting your frustration on Farid! Get over it and start behaving like a normal person!“ she shouted at him, pointing an angry finger at his face.

Alice was in rage which, surprised her. Normally, she’d never talk like that to Kevin, but she was just so pissed because he hurt Farid.

“Piss off, Minyard, you understand nothing,“ Kevin responded and shoved Alice out of his way.

Him treating Alice like this was unexpected and lit up a fire inside of Alice. She was ready to start a physical fight with him, but Issie dragged her away from Kevin.

Farid, sitting on the bench next to Abby, shouted a thank you to Alice, but she was still mad and decided to put all of it into practice. When Alice was angry, she was as deadly on court as her older teammates. She even managed to score multiple times on Andrew.

After practice, Alice wasn’t in the mood to go to Andrew’s room, because Kevin would be there, so she decided to look after Farid in the freshmen boys’ room. Only Magnus and Farid were in their dorm, but Magnus quickly disappeared after Alice showed up.

“How are you doing?“ Alice asked concerned and sat down on the couch next to Farid.

“Could be better,“ he answered honestly.

His nose was swollen and he had a nasty bruise on his cheekbone. Kevin really did hit him good.

“How’s the nose?“

“Luckily not broken, but the bone cracked a bit. It’ll heal fast enough. I’m lucky though that Abby didn’t bench me for the game,“ Farid said and smiled.

“Yeah, that’d be a shame,“ Alice agreed and returned the smile, “It’s going to be a rough game.“

“The captain of my old high school team was a total Ravens fan. Like super hardcore. Riko was his biggest idol, he had posters of him in his bedroom. He made me interested so I watched a bunch of their games. They’re fucking monsters,“ Farid told her.

“I know,“ Alice sighed and hugged her knees, “Kevin teaches me some of their drills. It’s tough.“

“What?“ Farid asked, “When?“

“Night practice.“

“Night practice?“

“Yeah, it’s mostly just me, Kevin, Andrew, Neil and Matt,“ Alice explained.

Farid frowned. “Is that… Why do…“ He seemed extremely confused and his expression was adorable, as if he were a tiny puppy, but the bruises on his face kind of broke that image.

“Kevin picks out the people who tag along. He believes I could go pro after graduation, same with Neil and Matt,“ Alice explained further.

“And Matt?“

“Matt himself believes he will go pro. He’s not one of Kevin’s projects,“ Alice said and smiled.

“But isn’t that kind of unfair?“ Farid asked, “You guys have the chance to get far better than us others. I mean, I don’t necessarily also want to spend my nights with Kevin, but I bet the other freshmen do.“

Alice couldn’t hesitate. “Who would you rather spend your nights with?“

Farid immediately blushed and hid his face in Alice’s shoulder. Alice just started laughing and relaxed into him so they ended up cuddling. Night practice was forgotten and so was the fight with Kevin and the upcoming match against the Ravens. Farid carefully put his arm around Alice’s shoulder and she smiled. He was so careful, so worried to break her as if she were a fragile glass figure. Nobody had ever treated Alice with that much respect and with that much caution. It filled her heart with warmth.

After a while, Jack and Hector returned from wherever they had been and Alice quickly got up to leave. Farid joined her and escorted her out of his dorm. As she said goodbye, he seemed to gather all his strength and took a deep breath.

“So, um, I’m actually terrible at this, but, yeah, would you, perhaps, like to go out on a date? With me? Eventually?“

He blushed again and it was the sweetest thing Alice had ever seen. Maybe she should give it a shot. Maybe going out on a date with Farid would be fine. Maybe Farid was the right person for her to date.

“Sure,“ Alice responded and smiled at hime.

He hugged her out of excitement. “Amazing. Alright. How does brunch on Sunday sound?“

“Sounds amazing,“ Alice agreed.

They hugged again before Farid went back into his own room and left Alice alone with all the new feelings inside of her.

On her way to her own dorm room, Alice met Nicky, who was rushing through the floors.

“Oh amazing Alice, I found you,“ he exclaimed and put his hands on her shoulders.

“You were looking for me?“ Alice asked, overwhelmed.

“It’s an emergency. We’re out of ice cream. There is nothing left in neither Andrew’s nor my room.“

Alice started laughing really loudly. Nicky acted offended.

“Alice, this is a real emergency. Andrew’s on the roof with Neil and neither of them answer their phones and I don’t want to interrupt them having sex, but we need new ice cream. Immediately.“

Alice sighed. “I’ll try calling.“

Andrew answered his phone immediately, which pissed off Nicky a bit, but Alice thought it was amusing.

“Nicky says we have an emergency. Apparently, we’re out of ice cream. And we need new ice cream. I think, Nicky wants you to come down so you can go grocery shopping,“ Alice quickly explained.

Andrew didn’t answer, but a few minutes later, him and Neil were down, their hair messy and Alice swore there was a hickey on Neil’s neck.

Nicky leaned over to her. “10 bucks say there’s more hickeys under his shirt,“ he whispered.

“You know what, I agree,“ Alice whispered back, “I don’t even want to bet on this, there are definitely more under his shirt.“

The four of them took the Maserati to the nearest store.

“Why isn’t Kevin tagging along?“ Alice asked, as Kevin was usually always around.

“Still in a bad mood,“ Neil answered dryly.

It didn’t surprise Alice and barely worried her, since she was still mad at him.

The trip to the store was quick, all they bought was ice cream and cigarettes and all of them returned to Andrew’s room afterwards. Nicky didn’t want to go back to his own room, because he was certain that Matt was in there with Dan, doing the straight people nasty, as he called it, so he stayed with the others at Andrew’s and tried to teach Alice a video game, while they ate chocolate ice cream.

Andrew and Neil were chilling on the windowsill, sharing a cigarette and ice cream, not talking, only looking at each other. Alice thought it was beyond lovely.

Kevin didn’t appear at all during the evening. He was probably passed out drunk in the bedroom, but nobody took the time to look after him, but Aaron appeared after a while. Nobody asked him why he wasn’t with Katelyn and he just sat down next to Alice. She handed him over the controller.

“Someone’s gotta beat Nicky’s ass at this or else he’s going to start thinking he’s actually good at this game,“ Aaron said.

“Hey, I am good,“ Nicky complained.

“No, you’re not. Alice is just terrible,“ Aaron shot back.

“I’m better than Neil,“ Alice threw in.

“That’s true!“ Neil agreed from the windowsill.

“Aaron,“ Andrew joined the conversation, “You’re not that good either.“

Aaron paused the game to turn around and look at his twin brother. “What did you just say?“ he asked in a playful tone.

“I could easily beat you at this,“ Andrew responded and raised his eyebrows.

“Well, then come over here and prove it, dickhead,“ Aaron demanded.

“You bet I will, asshole,“ Andrew shot back, got up and joined his siblings and cousin on the couch. He took Nicky’s controller and the twins started battling each other.

Neil simply watched from the windowsill, smiling in quiet. Alice leaned back and sunk into the soft cushions. As she put her head on Nicky’s shoulder she felt extremely comfortable and well. Moments like these felt natural. Being with her family felt natural. She was at home.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I am so so so sorry for not updating this fic for almost two whole months. I was busy with school and did not have the time at all to write anything. But here is the new chapter. If you like it, please leave some Kudos and comments, I really appreciate it!  
> I guess I promised you more Minyard siblings action, but that's as far as it goes. There will be a tiny bit more in the next chapter, but also: MATCH AGAINST THE RAVENS! YAY! Or not so much yay. It'll get pretty nasty, let me promise you that. If I'm the best person ever, I will manage to update this before 2018 starts, but I make no promises.  
> Well, I hope you can forgive me my absense and give this chapter some love. I wish you all a merry christmas and some peaceful days with your loved ones, if you celebrate christmas. If you don't, I wish you lovely days nevertheless.


	16. Wicked Game

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The Foxes face the Ravens.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> WARNING: this chapter contains violence and injuries. Also alcohol, anxiety, references to panic attacks and traumas. Not that detailed though. Have fun with it.

The day the Foxes faced the Ravens on court again, after Riko’s death and Coach Moriyama’s replacement, was a Friday at the end of November. The weather matched the Foxes’ feelings and didn’t really help their lack of enthusiasm during morning practice. It was a home game for the Foxes, which helped the freshmen calm down a bit, but especially the older Foxes were really tense. One of the older Foxes was a complete mess.

Kevin showed up to morning practice completely wasted, his breath smelled like vodka, his face was decorated with dark circles under his eyes. Alice guessed he hadn’t slept at all last nights, but couldn’t really blame him for it. Nobody would ever truly understand Kevin’s relationship to the Ravens or understand his feelings towards them. Riko’s death still affected him.

Wymack sent Kevin off court, telling him he wouldn’t let him play if he wasn’t sober until noon. Kevin wasn’t too happy about that, but agreed grumpily and disappeared.

The overall atmosphere was tense and nervous. Alice had never seen or experienced the Foxes like this. It was unbelievable that the Ravens still had such a great impact on the mood of an entire team, even after their worst enemy was gone. The Foxes had beaten the Ravens last season when they still had their strongest player, but they still were the Ravens. Even though there were no Tetsuji and Riko Moriyama left, they were still the most intimidating and trained team Alice had ever come across. Facing them would not be easy.

After practice, Andrew and Neil disappeared without a word, Aaron met with Katelyn and Nicky locked himself in his room to anxiously call Erik. Kevin was nowhere to be found, but Alice guessed he would not be the best company at the moment.

Alice was left alone by them for the very first time since her arrival at Palmetto. For the first time, they shut her out and she didn’t know what to think of that. It was understandable that they all needed some space and that even after beating the Ravens, facing them was still nerve-wrecking. She just felt like the others were shutting down and didn’t allow her to be a part of their struggles. Alice was lost.

She didn’t really feel like hanging out with the other freshmen, so she just hid in her dorm while Sheena was out with Jack and Issie was hanging out with the others. Distracting herself with homework didn’t work out too well, so Alice ended up wandering around the dorm, trying to get some Spanish words in her head, but she did not succeed after not being able to remember what the word burguesa means.

At some point, Issie returned, simply to find Alice laying on the couch, her Spanish book on her head.

“Everything alright?“ Issie asked, crossed her arms in front of her chest and looked down on the misery that was Alice.

“I’m nervous,“ Alice answered.

“I think we all are,“ Issie responded and sat down next to Alice. She took away the Spanish book and put it on the small table right next to the couch. She looked worried.

“Can you imagine what’s going on inside of the others right now?“ Alice asked and sat up, strands of her blonde hair hanging messily in front of her eyes, “It should be easier now that there’s no Riko anymore, but I think that just makes it worse, at least for Kevin.“

Issie shrugged, as if she hadn’t thought about that yet. Perhaps she really didn’t. “I guess so.“

“And the Ravens haven’t lost a single match yet,“ Alice added, frowning, “They’re just as good as they have been before.“

Issie tilted her head a bit and thought about that for a moment. “We can make it happen. We can beat them again,“ she said, sounding a bit too sure about that.

“We weren’t even here when they beat them for the first time,“ Alice responded.

“You know what I mean,“ Issie answered and rolled her eyes.

There was a short pause in the conversation in which Issie studied Alice’s face, as if she was searching for something. Alice didn’t know if she found it, but at least she started talking again.

“What’s your real problem?“ Issie asked, her voice a little bit softer.

Alice finally brushed the strands of her hair out of her face and thought about Issie’s question. What was her real problem? Technically, she knew what her problem was. She just didn’t know how to properly put it into words.

“I don’t really know.“

Liar, she thought.

“Maybe it’s the fact that I couldn’t share it with them. I will never be able to fully understand what happened, even if they tell me every single detail, which I highly doubt. It’s just…“ Alice sighed, “I’ve missed so much.“

Her brothers had lived an entire life before they even knew she existed. She knew that Aaron and Andrew only knew each other for a few years now, but still. Alice would never get the chance to get those years back. Some part of her blamed herself for not finding them earlier. But then again, would her relationship to Andrew be as twisted as his relationship to Aaron was? Would she and Aaron talk as little as him and Andrew did? What role would she play in her brothers’ lives if she had entered them earlier?

“So it’s not just about the match, is it?“ Issie asked, her eyes big and serious.

“I don’t think so. I mean, the match is part of it.“

Issie looked at Alice for a few seconds, thinking about something. “Did you ever feel like your brothers were shutting you out?“

“Not really,“ Alice shrugged.

“Do you feel like you know them?“ Issie asked.

“As far as I can,“ Alice answered honestly. She doubted she would ever truly know a person that wasn’t herself.

“Do you still want to be here? With them?“

“Yes,“ the answer was quick and honest. There was no place, Alice would rather be than with her family.

Issie nodded. “Then I think there is no problem. You won’t get all these past years back, but you have many years of your future. It will take some time until you know the details about their pasts and it will take even longer until you can fully understand what has happened. But just remember that they are willing to spend their time with you, they want you to be their sister.“

Alice waited a few moments, before she answered, thinking about what Issie had just told her. She was extremely lucky, wasn’t she? She had brothers who wanted her in their lives and a cousin who made her feel like she had always been there. Issie was more than right.

“Thank you,“ Alice answered quietly, feeling like her worries were just dumb and unfounded.

“You’re welcome,“ Issie answered, smiled and got up. “I was actually just going to get you. It’s time to wreck those Ravens.“

Alice smiled as well, took Issie’s hand and followed her out of their dorm.

The Foxes met in the locker room before changing into their gear. There were no relaxed faces or jokes. All of them were nervous, even though the older Foxes tried to hide it from the freshmen. They couldn’t fool Alice. Nicky looked like he was about to pass out. Andrew and Neil looked like they were ready to murder somebody. And Kevin was at least sober by now.

Wymack didn’t give them a speech. He looked every single one of his Foxes in the eyes, trying to give them the strength they needed.

“I’m sure you’ll kick their asses out there,“ he said, “Go now. Change. Make me proud.“

The Foxes quickly disappeared and changed. Nobody said a single word. Alice exchanged a quick, worried look with Issie. She wasn’t too sure that the Foxes would kick the Ravens’ asses tonight. Kevin still seemed paralyzed and he was their best player. And when Alice thought about the Raven backliners, she would have to deal with, she felt nauseous.

Alice walked onto the court right behind Neil and right before Hector. She would really like to see Kevin’s face to see how he was doing, but Kevin was in front of Neil, walking steadily and confidently behind Dan onto the court. This was Alice’s first time on the starting lineup and she couldn’t feel more insecure about it. Secretly, she wished that Wymack would’ve chosen somebody else. The others on the starting lineup were Dan, Kevin, Matt, Aaron and Renee in goal.

Immediately before the game started, she shot Kevin a quick look. Kevin gives her a grim smile, looking ready to not only to destroy the Ravens, but to send them home crying.

“Let’s do this,“ he says, his voice solid and confident.

Alice responds with a nod. She is glad that Kevin feels confident about this game, because she really doesn’t. But she takes a deep breath and tries to calm herself. She had been training almost every night for the last few weeks with the best striker Exy had ever seen. She would make it through this. Somehow. Alice tries to blend out all the screaming fans and all the lights and focuses on the one thing that matters now: Exy.

The game started and it is obvious from the very beginning that the Ravens came with only one purpose: destroying the Foxes. It surprises Alice that playing the Ravens is actually kind of fun. It’s hard and fast and ugly, but it makes her want to be even better and makes her try to get past these fucking backliners and to run even faster, so she can outrun these incredible athletes.

A lot of the Ravens throw ugly insults at the Foxes, mostly at Kevin. Riko may be gone, but his legacy was still there. Alice was glad to see that Kevin tried to stay out of fights if possible and that he did not let the Ravens provoke him.

Both teams went a full half without scoring and Alice and Kevin were switched for Neil and Hector in the middle of the first half. Nobody truly blamed the strikers for not scoring. Both defenses were incredibly strong tonight. Alice already felt sore and she hadn’t even played a full half. She tried to imagine how Neil and Kevin must have felt last year, after playing two halves each against the Ravens. It was impossible. Her respect for the two strikers grew a lot.

Alice went back on court for the second half, with Jack at her side, Allison as dealer, Andrew in goal and Nicky and Issie as backliners. They were all willing to give what it takes to finally beat the Ravens. Alice exchanged a few insults with her backliner mark, before the half started. She was ready for this and willing to bleed for this win.

Unfortunately, this could not be said about every Fox. Jack missed a bunch of very good shots, which made Allison furious and annoyed Alice. Allison shouted something at Jack. Alice couldn’t hear the words, but it didn’t sound nice. Her backliner mark gave her a threatening smile.

“Having problems over there?“ he asked her.

“Fuck off,“ Alice answered with a bittersweet smile.

The game went on too quickly for the backliner to respond. Allison decided she would ignore Jack from now on and only passed the ball to Alice.

Alice caught the ball in her net and started running towards the goal. After her fifth step, her backliner mark started swinging his racquet. After her sixth step, Alice didn’t have the ground under her feet anymore. An immense pain emerged from her stomach and then she landed on the ground, head first and everything went black.

When Alice opened her eyes again, she immediately started choking and coughing. She tried to get up, but failed. Her arms didn’t seem to be working anymore. Her vision was blurry, but she could see a small, blonde man strangling another. It was Andrew, looking like a death angel, ready to kill Alice’s backliner mark. It took Nicky, Allison, Wymack and two referees to get Andrew away from the backliner. Wymack kneeled down next to Alice, his eyes looking serious. He said something to her, but Alice didn’t understand him. There was a ringing in her ears, which drowned every other sound around her.

Wymack said something to the referees, before picking up Alice very carefully and carrying her off the court. Andrew and the backliner both receive red cards and Andrew is right at Wymack’s heels, his hazel eyes focusing on Alice only. She could hear the two of them talking, but could not focus enough to get what they were talking about. Andrew sounded furious.

Everything went way too fast for Alice’s dazed mind to properly follow, but there where lights and people asking questions, careful hands touching Alice’s arms. And suddenly she was in a room with Abby, who was putting ice on Alice’s forehead and explained something in a calm voice. Alice grasped the words ‘concussion’, ‘probably no further damage‘, ‘crushed organs‘ and ‘sprained‘. She couldn’t really make anything out of it, but she felt an aching pain somewhere in her ribcage.

Andrew and Aaron were standing next to Abby, looking hauntingly alike with serious faces and their arms crossed in front of their chest. Alice was usually good at telling her brothers apart, but the only thing that made it possible in this particular situation were the numbers on their gear. She tried to sit up, but stopped after an immense pain came up in her stomach.

“For how long will I be out?“ Alice asked, her voice sounding weird as if it were the voice of somebody else.

Abby looks at her with worry in her eyes. “Not sure yet,“ she answered, “But you will be benched until I say that you can play again. We also need to scan your organs to make sure they’re all okay, but I can’t do that here. We will do that right after the game at the Medical Centre.“ She made a short pause and smiled at Alice. “But don’t worry, love. So far, it looks good.“

Alice nodded, knowing that she was in no position to argue anything Abby told her, so she focused on her brothers. Andrew still looked furious, probably wishing he could have killed that Raven backliner, but Alice was not sure. This was Andrew’s way of telling the world that Alice belonged to him. He almost killed four men for Nicky. Now he strangled this backliner for Alice. She was family and he would not let anybody hurt her. Aaron looked pretty and as well, but rather worried. Carefully, he took Alice’s hand and squeezed it.

Alice gave him a smile and opened her mouth to say that she was fine, but almost at the same time Abby and Aaron said “Don’t“. 

After a while, Abby wanted to go back to watch the match and she told Alice that she could stay where she was or could go back to watch the match as well. Alice did not really care and shrugged.

“How about you two?“ Abby asked and looked at Aaron and Andrew, “David could want to put you back into the game, Aaron.“

Andrew was carded anyways and saw no point in going back to watch his teammates struggle. Aaron on the other hand refused to go with Abby to help out his team.

“They don’t need me,“ he simply answered and didn’t even properly look at Abby.

Abby gave up and returned to the others, but not before giving Alice a warm smile.

For a short time, all three of them simply remained where they were, not sure what to say or to do. Alice didn’t know what to think of the fact that her brothers only seemed to be entirely okay with each other when it came to protecting her. They barely hung out with each other, never just the two of them alone and when they were together, they rarely talked. Nicky seemed to be something they had in common, but not something they shared. Apparently, it was different with Alice. She really did not know what to think of it, but it felt nice to know that both of them cared for her.

Out of the sudden, Alice realized that this was how it should have always been, that this was how it was supposed to be. Her and her brothers together, a caring family. But their mother chose to destroy it by giving away two of her children. Suddenly, she was so angry at that mother, who she never met before. But despite the impossible requirements their mother had set them up with, they managed to find each other again and Alice was grateful for it.

“Thank you,“ she said very quietly, afraid that her brothers might not hear her.

Andrew and Aaron exchanged a quick, confused look.

“What for?“ Aaron asked.

“Everything,“ Alice answered and smiled.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I should probably reread and edit my chapters before I post them and this fic would be a lot better, but ugh, no. Everytime I finish a chapter I want to post it IMMEDIATELY and that's what I do. Whoop, whoop.  
> On this note, I hope you guys enjoyed this chapter! If you did, please leave some Kudos and comments. I completely forgot what I planned for the next chapter, but I know I planned something. I'm prepared. I swear. Hoping to update this fic as soon as possible!


	17. Heart of Gold

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Farid and Alice go on a date. Kevin, Neil and Andrew are in charge of planning a vacation.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> No warnings for this one, it's mostly fluff. I apologize for the long time without uploads, but I've been super busy and exhausted with this thing called final exams. But that's over now and I only have four more weeks of school left, so yay! More time to write. This is only a short, but sweet chapter and I hope you enjoy it. Also, I just uploaded the first chapter of my new fic, which focused on the Fox ladies, so check that out.

Inviting Nicky over to help Alice study for her Spanish exam had been her own idea. In retrospect, it was not the best idea Alice has ever had, since Nicky was about the most unproductive person Alice knew. She made a mental note to ask Neil instead the next time. All Nicky had done so far, was play Mario Kart with Issie and eat the girls’ chocolate. He was more of a distraction than a real help. Nevertheless, Alice tried to focus on her papers, but Issie’s loud laugh was more than distracting.

Alice was so busy trying to ignore Nicky and Issie that she completely forgot to pay attention to the time. It was more of a coincidence that she looked at the clock and when she saw the time, she jumped up and almost pushed over her chair.

"Shit, I’m late,“ Alice cursed. She was late for her date with Farid. He promised her to pick her up at 12 am and now it was 11:55.

She rushed into the bedroom and grabbed some nice clothes: a blue blouse that complimented her eyes, a black jeans and she quickly grabbed a silver necklace from where the girls kept their jewelry, that one of her former foster sisters had gifted her. Alice rushed back into the living room, brushing her hands through her hair to make it look okay somehow.

Nicky and Issie had paused the game and looked at her with big interest.

"You look cute," Nicky said.

"Late for what?" Issie asked and frowned.

Alice blushed a little bit. "Um, I might have a date with Farid," she mumbled.

Nicky almost jumped when he heard that. "Ohmygod, Alice, why didn’t you tell me about it? I feel betrayed. Oh, but that’s so exciting! And he’s really cute, good taste. I can’t believe I didn’t see that coming. I totally have to tell Allison about it, finally there is gossip again."

Alice looked at Issie to see her reaction, but Issie was oddly interested in the TV screen.

"Nicky, please don’t make this a big thing," Alice said and put on some shoes.

Nicky made an offended noise. "Making something a big thing is kind of my thing, little cousin."

Alice sighed. "Yeah, I know that."

"So," Nicky said with a wink, "What are you two lovebirds doing?"

She resisted the urge to roll her eyes. "Brunch," Alice answered.

"Uhhhh, romantic," Nicky answered and let out a fake sigh, "Erik and I went to have brunch on our first, no second date. Lovely café." Nicky winked at her once again. "Have fun."

"Thank you,“ Alice said and gave Nicky a certain kind of look.

A loud knock on their door sounded and all three of them jumped a little.

"Use condoms," Nicky advised her.

"Fuck off."

"Love you too."

Alice opened the door and Farid was standing behind it. He dressed very nicely and Alice could tell that he was a little bit nervous, despite the huge grin on his face.

"Hi," he said.

"Hi," Alice answered.

"Hi Farid! Bye Alice!" Nicky shouted from the inside and Alice just closed the door behind her. 

Farid was still grinning. "Shall we?"

They took Hector’s car once again, because neither of them had their own and Farid claimed that Hector would not have anything to do on a Sunday anyway. "One day you have to convince Andrew to let you drive the Maserati, though," Farid told Alice, "I’m so jealous every time I see you enter that car."

Alice shrugged. "It’s just a car."

"Just a car?" Farid repeated unbelievingly, "Wow, I am hurt on your brother's behalf. Actually, on the Maserati's behalf. How did he have the money to buy that car anyway?"

"I'm not entirely sure," Alice answered, "But I heard Nicky say that Neil bought it. Something like that."

Farid did not say anything, but he nodded, still impressed by the Maserati. The drive to the café Farid had picked out was short and they did not talk much, but smiled a lot. Alice could tell that Farid was still nervous and when she thought about, she realised that she was nervous as well. This was only a date, nothing big, but it was her first date with Farid. For some reason, he made her nervous, but not in a negative way. When he smiled at her, she could feel her heart beat faster.

They arrived at a cute little café and a waitress lead them to a table near one of the big windows. Right after they ordered, Alice spotted a familiar, blonde boy and ducked immediately.

"Oh shit."

"What is it?" Farid asked, extremely concerned and made himself a little bit taller, looking around in search of any potential danger.

"Down, you idiot," Alice whispered, "It's Aaron. With Katelyn."

Farid started laughing.

"Why are you laughing, you dick? That's not funny," Alice complained.

"I thought it was your foster dad, but it's just Aaron," Farid explained, still chuckling a little bit.

"Just Aaron?" Alice repeated and raised her eyebrows.

"Shit, you're right," Farid hissed and ducked as well, "He will probably kill me, when he sees us."

"Well, he's not Andrew," Alice pointed out with a shrug.

"Okay, then he'll probably just cut off my finger, but he won't kill me."

Alice looked at Farid and she could see that for one moment he worried about him going too far, but Alice knew that it was nothing more than a lighthearted joke. She gave Farid a slight grin.

"If you're lucky," she added.

Farid returns her grin. "I mean, should we leave, or anything? It's okay if you want to."

Alice thought about that for a second. "Well, as long as he's busy with Katelyn, he probably won't see us. Hopefully," she said then and sat up again. 

Farid crossed his arms in front of his chest and leaned back. "So you did not tell your brothers about us?" he asks and pouts, "I am deeply hurt, Alice."

It was just a joke, Alice knew it and she enjoyed seeing Farid so relaxed and comfortable enough to joke about that, but for some reason, she could not joke back. Her answer came out a lot more serious than she had intended to.

"Well, there would have to be an us before I could tell them about it, but there isn't," she answered quietly.

Farid did not answer immediately and Alice thought right away that it had been a mistake to change the tone of the conversation. They had literally just arrived at the café and she was immediately jumping to serious topics. One day, she would have to learn to properly think about the things she was going to say before saying them and not just afterwards.

"But there could be an us, couldn't it?" Farid asked after a while and looked at her, his brown eyes dark and serious.

Alice’s heart skipped a beat. She wanted to slap herself for behaving like a teenage girl. She was eighteen years old. A conversation like that should not freak her out anymore, but it did.

"I guess so," Alice answered then and blushed once again.

There was a weird feeling in her stomach. It was a mixture of excitement and something else, perhaps worry. Alice knew that feeling. She has had two girlfriends and one boyfriend in her life, but she did not think she had been in love for quite a while now. Alice broke up with her last girlfriend when she was sixteen years old and had not even really had a crush after that. She guessed that she was surprised that falling for somebody had happened here and that it happened with Farid, but this felt right and safe and good.

"Alright," Farid said and the smile he gave her was big and pure and it filled Alice's heart with joy.

"Alright," Alice answered and returned his smile.

The waitress came with their orders and they quickly changed the subject, but not in an awkward way. Their conversation felt natural and they jumped from talking about their possible future jobs to talking about the food they had ordered. It was really good food, one might add. They moved on to gossiping about other NCAA Class I Exy teams.

"I don't really have a favorite team," Alice declared and shrugged.

Farid gave her an unbelieving look. "Not the Trojans? Everybody loves the Trojans, Alice."

Alice had to laugh. "You have more in common with Kevin than you'd think."

"I will pay you to never say that again," Farid responded with a grin.

Farid and Alice spent a lovely time together. At some point they moved on from talking about Exy to talking about their classes and what they want to do after they finish university. Farid was planning to go to law school to become a lawyer at some point and Alice's dreams of going Pro after graduation were growing stronger by each day. They shared their travel plans for the future, Alice wanted to see Scandinavia and Farid Japan and with a very shy smile Farid suggested that perhaps they could travel there together one day. Alice returned his smile just as shyly and agreed.

She completely forgot about Aaron at some point, or her upcoming Spanish exam and the way her body was still hurting from her injuries from the Ravens game. Abby had made sure that her body was not seriously injured and Alice had gotten away with a minor concussion, some sprained ribs and some nasty bruises.

On their way back to the tower, Farid asked her very quietly, if perhaps, they could do that again.

"You mean go on a date?" Alice asked him and looked over at him, but Farid's eyes were focused on the road.

"Um, yeah," he stammered and smiled, "That stuff."

Alice smiled as well and her stomach felt weirdly warm. "Yes," she answered, "We can do that again."

"Nice," Farid said and his hesitant smile turned into a big grin.

"I know right?" Alice grinned back and they laughed.

Farid wanted to bring her back to her room, but Alice said she was going to go to Andrew's.

"Well, then I will bring you to his room," Farid simply said and they walked towards the room Andrew shared with Neil and Kevin, both not quite able to hide their awkward excitement.

"So," Farid started when they were standing in front of the dorm.

"So," Alice agreed with a smile.

"That was really nice today," Farid continued.

"It was, indeed."

"Alice?" he asked and she felt like his dark eyes were swallowing her whole.

"Farid," she answered with a hoarse voice.

"May I kiss you?" he asked very sweetly.

Alice felt like her heart was about to explode, or at least running a marathon. She knew that she had a crazy smile on her lips, but she just could not stop it.

"You may," Alice said and stretched her neck to get closer to Farid.

They kissed and it was everything Alice could have hoped for in a first kiss. It was sweet and full of positive emotion, she could feel the respect and admiration Farid had for her by the way he held and kissed her and hoped that he was feeling the same as she was. It was a kiss filled with equal adoration. Alice could not get enough of Farid's healing love.

They parted again and Alice knew that Farid's big smile was mirroring her own expression.

"Have fun with Andrew," Farid said and grinned and oh God, he looked so handsome.

"Have fun thinking about me," Alice returned quick-wittedly.

"I will," Farid answered and then left her, but he kept looking back over his shoulder.

Alice knocked on the door of the boys' room and heard a loud "Come in!" which sounded a lot like Neil. All three boys were sitting on the couch, Neil in the middle with a laptop on his lap, ice cream on Andrew's lap and a TV remote on Kevin's. The TV was on and they were watching yesterday's Court match against the Canadian Court. Judging by the edge in Kevin's voice, him and Andrew are in the middle of a discussion and Neil just looked confused by technology.

"Um, hi?" Alice asked and closed the door behind her.

Kevin pointed at the couch. "Come," he demanded.

"I'm not a dog," Alice complained, but started moving.

Kevin looked up, annoyed. "Just fucking come here and tell us what you think."

Alice rolled her eyes and sat down next to Andrew, as far away from Kevin as possible, just to annoy him. "Think about what?"

She peeked at the screen and saw pictures of snow and people skiing and remembered that Kevin, Andrew and Neil were in charge of the skiing trip the older Foxes plus Alice had planned for their Christmas break. Alice had no idea why the others had thought it was a good idea to let the three of them plan it, but since it had in fact been Kevin's wish to go skiing, he was in charge of the organization.

"We think we have found the right hotel, but Andrew's complaining. It isn't even a hotel, actually, it's just this large resort kind of thing where we could book our own cabin," Kevin explained and pointed at some things on the screen.

"It looks lovely," Alice said, after taking a closer look at all the pictures Kevin was showing her.

"It looks crowded," Andrew commented, "I do not want to spend my holidays with screaming children and annoying adults."

"So do we," Kevin shot back, "But we have to take you with us and you're an annoying adult."

"Fuck off, Day."

"And Nicky qualifies as a screaming child," Kevin added.

"Kevin, can you please just book the fucking hotel so this discussion can be over?" Neil groaned and gave Alice an annoyed look.

Kevin took the laptop from Neil's lap and types in a few things. "Done."

Alice looked at them in disbelief, as if they were little children. "And that was the problem?" she asked slowly.

Nobody answered, so Alice just smiled and hugged her knees to her chest. The TV reporter started shouting and gained Kevin and Neil's interest by that. Since it was a repetition, Alice already knew the outcome of the game and she was certain that Neil and Kevin had already seen the game, but they watched it with an interest as if they had never seen it before. When Andrew saw that even Alice's eyes were fixed on the screen, he got up and left the couch to have a cigarette at the window.

"Junkies," he whispered, but did not look at them.

"Shhhh!" Kevin hissed at him, because things were getting super intense on the screen.

Thea, Kevin's girlfriend, bodychecked a Canadian striker and he fell to the ground and held his knee.

"He should stop whining," Kevin commented derisively, "She wasn't even using her full strength."

Alice raised an eyebrow. Thea had not even been using her full strength? She knew that Thea was good, but she had to be a killer on the court and Alice hoped that she would never have to face Thea as her backliner mark on court. Once a Raven, always a Raven, she thought quietly, but would never say that out loud. Alice thought about her bruises from her last encounter with a Raven and let out an quiet sigh.

They continued watching the match and commented on it sometimes, but Kevin shushed Neil and Alice most of the time. Andrew was sitting on the windowsill and stared out on the campus. After a while, Neil joined him on there and they shared a cigarette. It gets really quiet in the room, except for the sound of the TV, but nobody seems to really mind. Alice was as comfortable as she could be.

As soon as the game ended, Andrew broke the silence. "Alice?"

"Yes?" she asked and turned around to look at him, surprised that he would be the first to start talking again.

"Is that Farid guy treating you right?" Andrew asked, his face a blank expression, his tone bored, but his words proved his concern.

Alice immediately blushed and secretly cursed Nicky or perhaps Aaron, if he had seen her with Farid, for telling Andrew.

"He is," she answered truthfully.

Andrew just nodded and took another drag from his cigarette, seeming as uninterested as ever. Alice could swear that she saw Neil smile because of Andrew's question. Their eyes met and for a second, Alice returned Neil's smile.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thank you so much for reading! If you liked it please leave some comments and Kudos. I promise, I will try to upload the next chapter soon. Also: yay, Fox vacation time. More fluff! Skiing! Minyard siblings action!


	18. All I Want For Christmas

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The Foxes go skiing and celebrate Christmas together.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> A NEW CHAPTER! No triggerwarnings I believe, please correct me if I missed anything, but honestly? This chapter is mostly fluff. To everybody who is missing the drama: it comes back in the next chapter, yay! (PS: sorry for the title, I just couldn't resist.)

The first half of Alice’ first Christmas break at Palmetto State University would be spent skiing with all the older Foxes. Over New Year, Alice would fly to Germany with Nicky to visit Erik. Andrew and Aaron had been invited as well, but they did not want to come, as Aaron would spend New Year with Katelyn and Andrew and Neil would tag along with Matt to New York.

The skiing resort, Kevin, Neil and Andrew -mostly Kevin, though- had picked out was super dreamy. There was snow everywhere and it looked like it was from a movie. Their cabin was huge and had its own fire place, as well as a very lovely kitchen. It was a bit rustic, but Alice did not mind. The almost old-fashioned looks of the cabin only contributed to the whole vibe of the vacation. Alice had never been skiing before and she was really looking forward to learning it.

The cabin had three bedrooms with double beds and two bedrooms with two single beds each. It was pretty obvious that the couples in the group would get the double bed bedrooms and so Kevin, Nicky, Aaron and Alice had to split up. Alice did not really mind, but she would indeed feel a lot more secure with either Aaron or Nicky; her family. Nicky decided that he would share with Kevin, since he did not want to listen to Aaron calling Katelyn every evening, so Aaron and Alice would have to share a room.

The room that was assigned to them was small, but well fitted, with its own TV and bathroom. They unpacked in silence, until Aaron broke it.

"If you want to switch, it's okay. I know Nicky'll probably be more fun as a roommate than me. I really don't mind," he said, but did not look at Alice.

Alice looked at her brother in blank surprise. "What?"

"You don't have to share with me," Aaron clarified.

"Um," Alice started, "But I want to?"

Aaron finally looked at her. Alice had never before seen him this insecure. "Really? C-cause I thought… I don't know," he actually blushed, "Nicky is just so much more fun than I am, always in a good mood, always joking. Even though he's a dick, it's impossible to not somehow get attached to Andrew and he does have you under his protection, which means he won't let you go anyway and then there's… Well then there's me."

Alice was still confused, not quite knowing where all of this came from. Aaron had never seemed like he had any insecurities about his role in her life and suddenly, she was wondering if she had given him any reason lately to doubt her attitude towards him.

"What's going on, Aaron?" she asked.

Aaron shrugged and stared at his feet. "You've been with us for a few months now and you have gotten to know us and I guess… I guess I'm just not that spectacular once you get to know me. I'm the boring, moody family member," he explained and Alice was surprised by the raw honesty in his voice. He actually believed what he was saying.

Alice did not know how to respond to that. He was just so completely wrong and it hurt her to see him like this, as if he thought that she did not like him as much as she liked Andrew or Nicky, as if he was somehow worth less than them. She did have a good guess on why he would think that, why he would be so insecure about his relationship to his sister. Aaron's relationship with Andrew was more than questionable. It was hard to love Andrew and perhaps even harder to be loved by him. Aaron had gotten abused by Tilda, he did not understand Andrew and he pushed Nicky away. Alice guessed that she was the only member of Aaron's family who had an almost normal relationship to him and he did not know how to deal with it.

"Aaron, please don't say stuff like that," she said very quietly, "You are just as dear to me as Andrew is. Or Nicky. I am looking forward to sharing a room with you."

Aaron did not look convinced, but he also did not seem like he wanted to continue the conversation. Perhaps he was a bit ashamed that he had even brought it up.

"And I think you're very spectacular," Alice added with a smile.

He just nodded and Alice believed that she saw the hint of a smile on his face. But then he sighed and said very quietly, "I guess Christmas is just a difficult time, that's all."

Alice did not comment further on that and they continued to unpack their stuff, before making their way downstairs to meet with the others.

Nicky, Allison and Renee were sitting on the couch, watching TV and Allison and Nicky seemed to be in a heated discussion about what ever they were watching. Neil and Kevin were in the kitchen, talking. Matt was trying to figure out how the fireplace worked and Alice could see Andrew through the huge glass doors leading to their small terrace, where he was having a cigarette.

Dan was just walking through some door as Aaron and Alice arrived downstairs, a huge grin all over her face. "We have a sauna!" she shouted excitedly, "Matt, we have to try out the sauna later!"

"Ew, straights," Nicky joked and Allison and Alice laughed at that.

"You're just jealous that your man isn't here to go to the sauna with you," Dan shot back at him.

"True," Nicky laughed.

"But it's so amazing," Dan continued to praise, "This cabin is so amazing, I cannot believe that Kevin, Neil and Andrew actually picked out something this lovely. We should let them plan our vacation more often. Ugh, guys, I'm so looking forward to this vacation and to trying out skiing."

Alice smiled at Dan's adorable ramble and then wandered into the kitchen to make herself a cup of tea, where she found Kevin and Neil, engaged in a conversation about skiing. Kevin, always the perfectionist, said that he was super prepared and that he was super excited to try it. He looked and sounded genuinely happy about the fact that they would hit the slopes on the next day, which amused Alice.

"I really have no clue how to ski," Neil said, just as Alice entered the kitchen.

She greeted them with a smile and started to boil some water for her tea. The boys acknowledged her arrival with a nod, but were too invested in their discussion about skiing to properly greet her. Alice just listened to them talk and bicker while she was waiting for her water to be ready. As she returned to the Foxes, they had just started to discuss what they would do next and Dan called for Kevin and Neil to come out of the kitchen.

"Alright, so we will split up into three groups, yes?" Dan summarized at the end of their discussion, "Matt, Neil and I will go grocery shopping."

"The parents with their baby," Nicky joked.

Dan ignored him, but Matt gave him a big, approving grin. "Renee, Allison, Kevin and Nicky will go out to explore the resort. I expect you to tell us exactly what we can do here, alright?"

"Aye aye, captain," Nicky returned.

"Don't worry, Dan, Renee and I will give you some good feedback and watch the boys," Allison promised her.

"And that leaves Aaron, Andrew and Alice, who will stay here to watch the house."

As soon as everybody was gone, the three of them settled down on the couch in the living room. Aaron got a book and started to read, while Andrew played some game on his phone. Alice just sat there, kind of lost, not quite knowing what to do with her time and so, her thoughts started flying. They landed on Tilda Minyard. She had a huge impact on her sons, especially Aaron. Alice wondered how of much a different person she would be, if she had grown up with her mother and brother. What kind of person would she be, if Tilda had raised her? What kind of woman would give birth to three children, but only keep one? Another thing crept into Alice' mind. Did she inherit any of Tilda's traits? Was she similar to her brother in some ways, because of their genetics?

"Can I ask you something?" she asked carefully.

Aaron looked up from his book. "Yes," he said.

Andrew did not say anything, but he put away his phone, which meant he was listening.

"What was our mom like?"

The atmosphere shifted immediately. Alice held her breath, fearing that she had gone too far. Andrew picked up his phone again and Alice knew that she had fucked up.

"She was awful," Aaron answered after a while, "Terribly damaged."

Alice was aware of the fact that this was an extremely sensitive topic, but she did want to know more about it. At the same time, she did not want to push it, so she waited, until Aaron continued to talk.

"She was abusive and rarely ever nice to her children. Even when I was a little child, she didn't really care about me. Never did, I guess."

It was obvious that there was more to tell, but Aaron did not seem like he was up to talk more about it.

"The world's better off without her," Andrew said, without looking up from his phone, his tone cold and unforgiving.

Aaron picked up his book again, which meant that the conversation was over. 

"I'm sorry I asked," Alice quickly said, "I know the topic is difficult."

Aaron simply shrugged. "We can't really blame you for showing interest in her, can we? You never got to meet her."

"It's probably for the better," Alice mumbled and meant it that way. So far, she had not heard a single positive thing about her mother.

He did not respond, but Alice knew that secretly, he agreed.

The entire atmosphere had gotten a bit awkward, at least for Alice, so she turned on the TV and went through the channels until she found a documentary about the great white shark and stuck to that. One of her former foster mothers had been a marine biologist and she often made Alice watch documentaries about the ocean and its habitants, which was not at all as boring as it sounded. Aaron put his book away again and after a while, Andrew put away his phone as well. The siblings watched the documentary together, sometimes commenting on what they saw on the screen, but they mostly watched it in silence until the others returned. 

Dan, Matt, Neil and Renee unpacked the groceries while Nicky and Allison kept telling whoever wanted to hear about it, how amazing the resort was.

"We also already have plans for the rest of this day," Nicky told them excitedly.

Allison boxed his arm. "Don't you dare tell them, Hemmick, it's a surprise."

"I hate surprises," Andrew commented.

"You'll probably hate this one even more when you find out what it is," Nicky said and grinned.

Andrew did not react to it, but Alice guessed that he was not as amused as his cousin. Alice was sort of interested in the plans Nicky and Allison had made for later, but she did not care enough to ask about it.

A little bit later, Alice joined Neil and Andrew outside as they shared a cigarette. She enjoyed being outside in the snow and the boys smoking was relaxing to her. It was a peaceful moment and Alice never wanted to forget it. Spending time with the older Foxes was fun, but sometimes they were too loud and their energy could be overwhelming. This short moment of quiet gave Alice the space to breathe.

Andrew and Neil rarely ever talked when they were alone with Alice and when they did, they did not use German, which Alice highly appreciated. She knew that her family was trying to avoid speaking German when she was around, because she could not understand it, but sometimes they did it anyways. Alice assumed it was out of habit, but it still annoyed her. She had gotten used to the quiet around Andrew and Neil. They seemed to have some other way to communicate and Alice wondered if she would ever have such a connection with somebody else. Farid came to her mind for some reason, but they were not as close as they could be. They had just started dating and Alice thought it was too early to determine anything.

The peaceful silence was destroyed by the sound of the door opening and Nicky's voice shouting, "Attack!"

A second later, Alice was hit by a big snowball and screamed in surprise. She turned around to see all the Foxes, smiling mischievously with snowballs in their hands.

War broke out immediately. Allison and Renee teamed up and strategically destroyed everybody who dared to get too close to them. Dan and Matt also tried to team up, but they failed to take out their opponents, because they got too distracted when they started throwing balls at each other. Nicky tried to throw snowballs at everybody, but he was the one who got hit the most. Kevin was a little bit too aggressive, considering it was just a snowball fight and shouted insults when he was throwing a ball. Neil was just kind of in the middle of everything, his face a joyful mask, never truly throwing any balls, but he also never got hit.

Alice tried to team up with Aaron, but Aaron was not really into it, so Alice just ended up smearing snow in his face because he was being grumpy. Andrew tried to stay out of the whole thing and only threw very precise and big snowballs at Kevin.

After a very intense and almost brutal war, the Foxes were exhausted and cold, their cheeks and noses red, their hair war wet. Alice though that this was the best day ever. They all returned inside again and Renee made some hot cocoa for everyone. They cuddled up in front of the TV and talked and laughed and got warm again, until it was time for dinner. Despite Kevin's protests, they had pizza.

The Foxes went to bed early that day, because they wanted to be prepared for their first day on the slopes. Aaron's steady breathing was calming Alice down, so she could fall asleep very easily that night. She was beyond grateful for the Foxes and super excited for the days that would come.

Alice turned out to be not the greatest talent at skiing. After just a few days, her entire body was covered in bruises in all sorts of colors; Alice felt like a rainbow. Despite falling so much, it was a lot of fun to hit the slopes with the Foxes. It was a surprise to no one when Neil and Kevin started doing races as soon as they had figured out how to ski down a hill without falling. Sometimes, Matt and Dan joined them in their races, but especially Kevin was over-competitive as always, which annoyed the other Foxes. Nicky complained every evening about feeling sore, but in the mornings, he was super excited about getting to ski again. Alice thought it was adorable.

On Christmas morning, the Foxes enjoyed a big breakfast together, before leaving their cabin to ski. They had agreed that they would not gift each other anything this year, since they had all participated in paying for their vacation. In the evening, they all cuddled up in the living room to watch a Christmas movie and afterwards Dan face-timed Wymack. When Wymack answered and Abby's voice could be heard in the back, Nicky and Allison exchanged a certain look.

"Shagging," Nicky whispered with a dirty grin.

"Domestic fuckers," Allison answered, "Literally."

"Hey Coach!" Dan shouted to overtone Nicky and Allison, "Merry Christmas!"

"Yeah, merry Christmas to you and Abby," Allison said with a grin and stroked Renee’s hair, whose head was placed on Allison’s lap.

"Oh how I haven't missed your voices," Wymack said. Alice got a look at the display over Nicky's shoulder to see a rare warm smile on Wymack’s face, "Merry Christmas. How is everyone doing?"

"Andrew is currently desperately trying to get either lung cancer or diabetes," Nicky said informingly.

"Both, actually," Allison added, "He's outside with Neil, smoking and eating chocolate at the same time.“

"What else is new?" Wymack deadpanned, "Where are the rest of you?"

"Matt and Kevin are in the kitchen,“ Dan said, "They are doing the dishes. Or at least that's what they are supposed to do."

"Kevin hasn't broken his hand yet," Nicky added helpfully.

"Renee and Allison are right next to me, cuddling," Dan continued and elegantly ignored Nicky, "Alice is right on Nicky's other side. Alice, say hi." Dan turned the display towards Alice so Wymack could see her.

Alice waved awkwardly. "Hey, Coach. Merry Christmas."

"Hey Minyard. How is skiing?" Wymack asked her.

"Painful."

"Alice is the living rainbow flag," Nicky grinned, "We can be glad that she isn't that clumsy when on court."

"But," Allison jumped in, "It's not a family thing. Aaron is surprisingly good at skiing. We think he picked the wrong sports."

"Where is that misfit?" Wymack asked with a warm twinkle in his dark eyes.

Dan turned the display towards Aaron, who was sitting in one of the armchairs. "There he is. Our skiing talent. We could not be more proud."

"Dan, stop," Aaron complained and hid his face in his book.

"Why? It's true. You're so good!" Nicky shouted.

Aaron sighed loudly and looked over his book. "Hi Coach," he mumbled.

"Try to look less miserable. It's Christmas," Wymack suggested.

Aaron very unconvincingly faked a smile.

"Charming," Allison commented, "Coach, have the cubs destroyed the Tower yet? Which ones stayed there again?"

"Magnus and Jack," Alice informed her. The two freshman boys did not have any place to go, which is why they stayed back. Alice felt sorry for Magnus, but she could not care less about Jack.

"They are fine, we think," Wymack answered with a shrug.

"We know!" Abby corrected him and took the phone out of Wymack's hand to see the Foxes, "Hey everybody and merry Christmas!"

"Merry Christmas, Abby!" Nicky, Alice and Renee chirped at the same time.

"Are you having a nice evening?" Dan asked with a smile.

Abby proceeded to tell Dan about the day she had and what had happened in their absence. At some point, Alice got off the couch and grabbed her coat to join Andrew and Neil outside. When she arrived on the terrace, Neil passed her with a polite smile and went back inside. Alice wondered if it had anything to do with her coming outside, but she could not find any reason. Neil always tolerated her.

Andrew did not say anything to Alice and so they just stood next to each other in silence for a while, Andrew blowing smoke into the cold air, while Alice let her eyes wander over the snowy landscape.

"Open your hand," Andrew demanded suddenly.

Alice looked at Andrew, confused, but his blank expression hinted nothing, so she held out her hand, waiting curiously. Andrew placed a small item in her hand and immediately turned away from Alice, so that his back was facing Alice. She stared at the tiny charm in her palm. It was a silver A, very simple, without any kind of sparkle, but extremely fragile and exquisite.

At first, Andrew did not say anything, just flicked away his cigarette and finally gave Alice a bored look. "Merry Christmas," he said and disappeared inside.

She was left outside, in surprise, but with a terribly warm feeling in her tight chest. Alice could actually feel a tear burn in her eyes and she quickly brushed it away, put the charm in her pocket and followed Andrew back inside.

Later, when Alice was in her and Aaron's room and was getting ready for bed, Aaron cleared his throat and Alice turned around.

"Yes?" she asked, her eyebrows raised.

Aaron smiled shyly. "Merry Christmas, Alice," he whispered and held out his hand to give Alice a plain silver necklace.

She looked at Aaron, her jaw hanging open. The necklace felt just as light and right as the charm had felt in her hand.

"It matches the charm," Aaron explained and shrugged, but Alice could tell that he was happy about her reaction, "It's your first Christmas with us. Dobson thought we should get you something and we agreed."

A smile emerged on Alice's face. "A for Alice?" she asked quietly.

"Or Andrew," Aaron answered, "Or Aaron."

"Thank you," Alice said and she meant it. She walked towards Aaron, "This is such a lovely present."

She kissed him on the cheek, something she would never dare to do to Andrew, with a gentle smile and hugged him tightly afterwards. After a tiny second of hesitation, Aaron started to hug her back and awkwardly patted her back.

"I'm glad you like it," he whispered into her hair.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I hope you liked this chapter and if you did, please leave some Kudos or comments. Thank you so much for reading this.


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